


doves and daggers

by augustren



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, F/M, Fairytale Stuff, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Inspired by Tangled (2010), Lesbian disasters, Plot Twists, Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra)'s A+ Parenting, Tangled AU, The Snuggly Duckling Pub (Disney), adora is rapunzel, catra is eugene, idiots to lovers, lanterns, swift wind is maximus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:15:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 49,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27433402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/augustren/pseuds/augustren
Summary: “This is the story of how I died.”“Catra!”“Alright, alright! This is actually a really fun story. And the truth is, it isn’t even mine. This is the story about a girl named Adora.”Or: Catradora Tangled AU
Relationships: Adora & Bow & Glimmer (She-Ra), Adora & Glimmer (She-Ra), Adora & Swift Wind | Spirit, Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Catra & Entrapta & Scorpia (She-Ra), Catra & Scorpia (She-Ra), Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra), Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 70
Kudos: 192





	1. once upon a time...

**Author's Note:**

> i got the idea for this fic at 1 am and immediately started writing it... also i may or may not have watched tangled for the 257th time
> 
> this is my first attempt at a full length fic so lets hope it goes well!! 
> 
> updates should be at least once a week, although they may be more than that we shall see

_ “This is the story of how I died.” _

_ “Catra!” _

_ “Alright, alright! This is actually a really fun story. And the truth is, it isn’t even mine. This is the story about a girl named Adora.” _

______________________________

Our story begins 18 years ago.

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom named Etheria. It’s streets were bustling with townspeople, shopkeepers, and every other kind of person imaginable. The island was rich in culture, and full of love. Most of which was reserved for the king and queen, adored and beloved by all who inhabited the tiny island. 

Flowers grew to be at least three shades brighter here. The people, three times kinder. The water was an almost unbelievable shade of blue, and the connecting island a mile or so away was full of lush greenery. Nothing was perfect, but this kingdom was about as close as it gets.

At least, for now.

The love for the rulers of the land was overwhelming, as was the reaction when the king and queen announced they would be welcoming a child in the coming months. 

The kingdom was ecstatic, celebrations and parties were prepared all over for weeks in anticipation for the child’s arrival. Shopkeepers hurried to make baby clothes and other gifts they could present to the infant. For there was nothing more exciting and cause for celebration than a baby.

The child would be coming any day now, and the feasts and dancing and music were all prepared. The citizens of Etheria were more than ready to welcome a new member of the royal family.

But, the excitement would come to a halt.

A week before the child was to be expected, the queen grew sick. Very sick. The king had sent for doctor after doctor, yet the answer was still the same. Nothing could be done. They needed a miracle. 

But even miracles happen once in a lifetime. And in this case, the miracle took the form of a magic golden flower, grown from a single drop of sunlight that had fallen to the earth about a hundred years ago. It was more of a myth than anything, but the king was just about desperate enough to believe in myths.

The search party set out that night. A group of knights and townsfolk gathered their lanterns and started the search for this magic golden flower. 

______________________________

Unbeknownst to them, was a woman who had been on that same mission many years ago. She was very old in age, but somehow managed to preserve her youth. Her secret? A magic golden flower, grown from a single drop of sunlight that fell to the earth.

Shadow Weaver had kept the flower a secret once she had discovered its powers in keeping her youthful. She could stay young forever, she had a miracle right there in her hands, and she was determined to keep it hidden. Not everyone could deal with magic. There were greedy people in this world, after all. 

Weaver would visit the flower once her age had started to catch up with her. Once her hair had returned to its dull shade of grey, and the wrinkles returned to her skin, she would make the trek. To do so, Weaver would travel to the edge of the isle to find the flower, carefully hidden under a cage covered in moss and greenery. The woman had learned long ago that she must take precautions to hide this miracle, so what better way than this cage perfectly designed to blend in with its surroundings. 

But Weaver made one mistake this night, for she failed in keeping the flower hidden. A grave mistake, considering the amount of people searching for it.

Shadow Weaver visited the edge of the isle, lifted the cage, and sang to the flower.

_ Flower gleam and glow _

_ Let your power shine _

_ Make the clock reverse _

_ Bring back what once was mine _

_ What once was mine _

As she sung the last lines of the song, her hair had returned to its raven black color. Her skin became free of wrinkles and appeared as if it glowed. She was now young again, and savored the feeling the flower washed over her, calm and new. She felt as if she was glowing. But the feeling did not last long.

Someone was coming. No, not someone. A group of people, it seemed like.

Weaver heard the footsteps and shouting, and in her frantic state she hurried to put the cage back on the flower, so whoever was near would not find it. She quickly pulled the hood of her cloak over her head, grabbed her lantern, and made her escape.

She was so worried in fact, that she did not notice the lantern knock the cage over, revealing the flower.

______________________________

The search party found the flower, yellow and glowing. A stark contrast to the dark and gloomy night. 

The flower was rooted and taken to the queen immediately. The kingdom prayed that the legend was true, and that the healing powers of the plant would heal the queen.

It turns out, miracles do happen once in a lifetime. The queen was healed, and the baby was born a week later.

A princess named Adora.

Adora was born with long, golden hair that looked as if a ray of sunshine had been stolen and woven into its strands. Her eyes were the color of the sky after a storm, and full of wonder and curiosity.

From the moment of her birth, she was adored by everyone in the kingdom (true to her name). The celebrations had started, everyone rejoiced. For the king and queen had been granted a miracle, and they could not have been more thankful.

To commemorate the birth of the princess, the king and queen released lanterns to the sky along with the rest of their kingdom. The night sky was filled with little dots of faint yellows and oranges, all in celebration for her. Their Adora. Their hearts could not have been more full, smiles becoming permanent fixtures on their faces. Everything was perfect in that moment.

And then that moment ended.

______________________________

Late in the night, the kingdom was asleep. It was calm, it was quiet, everything was just as it should be. Everything, except for the cloaked figure who snuck their way into the palace chambers. They had scaled the castle, climbed the balcony, opened the unlocked doors to find a cradle. Inside the cradle, was the beloved princess, her eyes closed and her breathing even. But Weaver didn’t care about the child. She cared about what the child possessed. Magic. Weaver’s magic. That had been stolen from her. This child was the result of thievery, the fools who ruled this kingdom taking a rare item of magic because they wanted to. Because they could. Well, so could Shadow Weaver.

Weaver snuck closer to the cradle, carefully as to not make a noise and wake the parents of the child who weren’t too far away. 

Quietly, she began to sing the song.

_ Flower gleam and glow _

_ Let your power shine _

Yes. It was working. The child’s hair began to glow. And Weaver smiled, for she was about to take what was so rightfully hers.

_ Make the clock reverse _

Weaver was now returning to her more youthful state, which had only made her crave that feeling more. She crept closer to the cradle, taking the scissors she had in one of the deep pockets of the cloak and making her move. She took a piece of the child’s hair, and readied herself to make the cut.

_ Bring back what once was- _

She cut the hair, only to find the child’s hair had stopped glowing. The piece she cut turned brown in her hand, and a cruel feeling washed over her as her youthfulness was ripped from her. She was no longer glowing or calm. She was only angry and annoyed, but she knew what she had to do next. She knew what this meant.

By the time the king and queen awoke to the sound of Adora’s cries, it had been too late. Weaver had taken the child.

______________________________

Deep in the forest, far from the kingdom, was a tower. Long abandoned, and hidden behind a barrier of stone and greenery. Weaver was safe with the child here. She had found her precious flower again, but this time she was determined to keep it hidden.

And so Shadow Weaver raised the child as her own, unnoticed and hidden away from the rest of the kingdom. Weaver also continued using the child’s magic for her benefit. But as Adora got older, she got more pushy. She asked more questions, and she wanted to know why her mother had put in place the rules that she did.

“Mommy.” Adora started one night as she sat in front of the fire, her mother brushing her golden hair from behind her.

“Yes, dear?” 

“Why can’t I go outside?”

Weaver was annoyed that Adora wanted what she couldn’t give her. Weaver gifted her paints, she cooked her favorite foods, she read her stories at night time. But Adora only talked about going outside, running in the grass, and splashing her feet in the ponds that rested below the tower.

“The outside world is a dangerous place, Adora. There are cruel and selfish people. You are safe here.” Weaver stated simply, her voice masking any annoyance. She played the part of a mother very well, and was patient when she felt like it. “Do you understand, flower?”

“Yes, mommy.” Adora stated sadly, tired of dreaming about the outside world and adventures she would never have. Her world was refined to these walls, and the three small rooms that made up this tower. But even then, the walls could not contain Adora’s imagination.

Every year on her birthday, the night sky was filled with glowing lights. They floated with the stars and only fueled Adora’s passion to venture into the outside world, no matter how dangerous her mother said it was.

And so, every year on her birthday, Adora would sneak down the stairs once she was sure her mother had gone to sleep. She would open the windows and admire the yellow and orange lights dancing in the night sky. And stare out into a world that she was only allowed to dream of.


	2. kind of an annual thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, a few things before we get started!
> 
> first of all, thank you so much for the positive feedback on the last chapter. it means a lot and i'm glad you're all enjoying the fic!
> 
> second of all, i still don't have a schedule for this fic but it will most likely update on weekends bc i have school during the week 
> 
> and most importantly, catra is flynn ryder in this au, so i decided to keep that name for her. but obviously, flynn's real name isn't flynn and he tells rapunzel that later on in the movie so i'm going to do the same in this fic! (it might sound confusing but you'll understand next chapter)
> 
> enjoy!! :)

7 am, the usual morning lineup.

Adora awoke more excited than usual this morning. The last 18 years of her life had been spent inside the walls of this tower with no one to keep her company, save for her mother and a small green chameleon named Pascal. 

But eighteen years spent inside one place is not only lonely, but terribly boring. Yet, Adora had managed. When she was twelve, she begged her mother to bring her paints when she would make trips to the outside world. And as a result, the walls of the tower were completely filled with paintings. Every nook, every beam, every wall, every single empty space had been filled. Some had been repainted more than once if Adora had grown tired of the painting that was there. Adora also had her books, although not many of them. But she managed to read the stories of fairies and goblins and far off places, so much so that she had the books memorized from cover to cover. There was also sewing and baking and candle making and brushing her hair, all seventy feet of it.

Yet there was nothing that took her mind off of the outside world, and just how much she wanted to be there. She wanted to be able to feel the grass beneath her feet and climb the trees. She wanted to splash in the ponds and run to her heart’s content. But more than anything, she wanted to see the floating lights. After all, they were the reason she was able to tolerate being stuck in this tower. The sight was beautiful, and Adora looked forward to it every year on her birthday.

She loved nothing more than the feeling of anxiously waiting for her mother to fall asleep, and then sneaking downstairs to the window and staring out at a sky that was all hers. Sometimes, she even let herself imagine that the floating lights were for her. But while this was exciting, she wanted to be there with the lights, not just watch them from her tower. Adora wanted to find out what they were and see them in person for herself, in the real world. 

And today, she was determined to do just that.

______________________________

The kingdom of Etheria was beautiful.

So were it’s jewels.

Early that morning, three figures began to scale the castle. Due to their skills in thievery and the lack of palace guards at that time in the morning, they were not seen. The group of thieves were looking for none other than the most prized possession in all the kingdom - a tiara. And not just any tiara, but the one that had belonged to the “Lost Princess”, as the kingdom now called her. It had been eighteen years since the child had disappeared, taken from her room in the middle of the night. Since then, extra security measures had been put in place by both the king and queen to 

ensure the safety of their child if she ever returned to them. 

Unluckily for the thieves around the kingdom, the extra palace guards affected the number of attempts to rob the palace over the years. Many of the groups that had been after the crown jewels had died out, and now sought out smaller missions. Many of the groups, except for this one.

The three figures now found themselves on the lower roof of the castle, right by a row of glass panels that looked down into the throne room. And there on a pedestal sat the infamous tiara, covered in a glass casing. None of them could get a good look at it, but as long as they knew where it was, they could complete their mission.

The throne room being on the far side of the castle, right at the edge of the isle and overlooking the water only benefited the thieves. They had gotten up here unnoticed, and they would remain that way. It was only 7 am, and according to Entrapta’s calculations, the palace guards would be on post outside of the castle towers at 8. They had plenty of time, which meant that one of the women in the group could take her time looking out at the view.

She stood at the edge of the roof, one of her arms wrapped around a spire to keep her balanced. She looked out at the expanse of the ocean, and it was one of the best sights she had ever seen. The edge of the isle slowly descended in layers, each one of them covered in greenery and flowers until it had reached ocean level. The sky was a lighter blue and speckled with few clouds. The ocean was calm and serene, its surface reflecting the light of the sun to make the tiny waves appear as if they were sparkling. The figure smiled.

“I could get used to a view like this.” The woman said. She may be here for a mere tiara, but she set her sights on something bigger. “Guys, I want a castle.”

“Well,” Entrapta said as she tapped the screen of her tablet. “According to my calculations, if we complete this job you would have enough money to buy your own castle. I would still have to calculate the cost of employing guards and staff but-”

“Guys!” The third figure exclaimed. “We need to get this done quickly! Flynn, you can look at this view another time. Entrapta, we can figure out the calculations once we are finished.”

The woman standing at the edge of the roof took her hand off the spire and turned around. 

“Relax, Scorpia. We have plenty of time.” She said smoothly, walking over to where the other two women were standing. She confidently took the rope from Entrapta and tied it around her waist, taking one last look at her view and reveling in the last moment she had before she would become one of the most famous thieves in all Etheria. She could see the wanted posters now.

“Okay, Wildcat. We believe in you.” Scorpia sighed. She might have believed in Catra, but she still picked up on the nervous look in Scorpia’s face. Catra felt a tinge of guilt at knowing the woman’s anxiety was mostly her fault. This mission was Catra’s idea, after all.

Scorpia reached down to carefully remove the glass panel which would allow for Catra’s swift and undetected entrance and exit. Catra sat on the roof with her legs dangling in the space where the glass panel used to be as Entrapta reviewed the plan with her. Catra was confident she knew what she was doing, but she would listen to Entrapta go over everything one last time. 

It’s about a forty foot drop. Entrapta and Scorpia would handle the rope and drop Catra by approximately one foot every three seconds. The drop would be completed in two minutes. Catra would remove the class covering, take the crown, and be lifted back up and make her escape. It was as easy as that.

And so after two minutes, Catra had been completely lowered into the throne room. There were three guards surrounding the pedestal in which the crown sat. Their backs were to the crown. Catra tried not to laugh at their obliviousness. Behind the pedestal were tapestries of the kingdom’s crest, a golden sun with a purple background. That same crest was on the two thrones in front of the tapestries. 

Catra removed the glass casing quietly and drew in a sharp breath as she held the tiara for the first time.

It was beautiful. One large jewel was situated at the front, with two identical smaller ones at its side. The bottom was lined with circular rubies and above them were blue gems, surrounded by white ones. The crown was woven through with gold designs that held the gems in place and filled in the gaps between the gems. Inside the gold outlines were diamonds which emphasized the beauty of the crown.

Catra had spent her life thieving. From food, to items in shops and then somehow working her way up to an actual tiara. She continued to admire it more until Scorpia had gently yanked the rope as if to tell her to hurry up.

She got the message and tugged back two times, the signal for when she was ready to be raised back up and quickly put the crown in her satchel. She was about twenty feet off the ground when a guard sneezed. Catra had just climbed a castle and stolen a crown, she felt untouchable at this point.

“Ah, hay fever?” She asked the guard jokingly. It wasn’t a good idea, Catra knew that. But the job was just about over, she was allowed to have some fun.

“Yeah.” The guard laughed. 

A few seconds later, the guard had realized what happened. But by the time he turned around, it was too late. Catra was just about at the top again, and waved goodbye to the guards. They noticed the crown was gone, and they knew she took it. And by the look they gave her, they had also probably noticed that her face was plastered on wanted posters all over the kingdom. She couldn’t help but laugh at the look on their faces. The guards had one job and they couldn’t even do it.

Catra wasn’t even sitting on the roof before Scorpia began to scold her. It wasn’t often Scorpia got mad, so Catra knew she was in deep shit. 

“Flynn! Do you realize what you’ve just done?!” Scorpia shrieked. 

She had. But the guards weren’t as fast as them, and the trio hadn’t been caught in a long time. The odds were in their favor.

“Please, given the fact that they didn’t even notice I stole the crown and their reaction was late, they won’t be after us that fast. We have time!” Catra responded in her defense as she untied the rope around her waist. Entrapta began to anxiously type on her tablet.

“According to the time when the guards reacted and the time it took us to get you up here, along with the time you and Scorpia have been arguing, the guards should be here right about-” Entrapta looked up from her tablet but didn’t finish her sentence as she took in the sight of dozens of guards rushing to the balconies of the towers near them. “-now.”

The guards had located the trio and rushed back into the tower, presumably to reach the roof where the three had been standing. Scorpia and Entrapta seemed frozen in place as they watched the guards for a moment as they realized what was happening.

“We need to split up.” Catra told the two, handing Scorpia her satchel. “You guys go to Thaymore and I will meet you there later. I will distract the guards in the meantime, am I understood?”

Entrapta and Scorpia nodded as they took off. Scorpia nervously looked back at Catra as if she was questioning if she should stay. But Entrapta grabbed Scorpia’s arm and the two ran off.

But there was something they didn’t know. There was something the guards didn’t know. Catra had a smaller satchel attached to the back of her belt. It wasn’t much, and she rarely used it. But when she realized it could fit a tiara, she knew what she had to do. And so Catra had not put the crown in the satchel that she gave Scorpia, instead she had taken advantage of the time that Scorpia and Entrapta had looked away and switched the crown to the other bag. The other two women had thought Catra gave them the satchel which contained the crown, but she didn’t. They also thought Catra was going to be the distraction, but she wasn’t. 

Catra’s top priority was making sure Entrapta and Scorpia had gotten away safely. Given that the guards had seen Catra steal the crown, they were most likely after her. Now that the two women had a headstart, Catra made her escape.

Catra ran as fast as her legs would take her. She lowered herself from the roof and climbed down, using the ledges of windows and misplaced stones to support her descent. She jumped down once she was close enough to the ground, wincing as her legs reacted to the shock of hitting the cement patio. She ran around the side of the castle, checking for guards everytime she rounded a corner. She heard shouts from the roof above and smiled. The guards were too late. Catra was too quick.

She made it far enough that she was now in town and began to slow her pace to blend in with the crowds. Once she got to the bridge, she made a run for it. Not only had Catra just stolen a crown, but she got away with it. This was going to be a very big day.

______________________________

“This is a very big day, Pascal!” Adora almost shouted, barely able to contain her excitement. “I’m finally going to ask her!”

Adora had asked many times as a child to see the floating lights. Her mother, trying to entertain her curiosity but not completely shut her down, had simply stated that it was dangerous and she could go when she was older. Adora had no idea when that was, and mother had probably just said it so she would stop asking, but it couldn’t hurt to try this year.

She was eighteen now, after all. She was mature. She was ready. 

Pascal looked skeptical. If he was a human he would probably be saying “Yeah, okay. She has taught you nothing but to not leave this tower and you’re going to ask her to go outside?”

“I know, Pascal. She might say no. But, I’m prepared! Look here.” Adora stated as she made her way up the stairs to her bedroom, Pascal in tow. 

It was simple, just a bed, a dresser, and a vanity. The room was painted a pastel purple and filled with accents of pink and yellow. The walls and beams on the ceilings had been so full of paintings that Adora had resorted to painting her dresser and vanity. The pillows on her bed had been stitched with yellow and orange flowers from when she had taught herself to embroider at the age of fourteen. The quilt on the bed was completed about a month ago, although the squares themselves had taken her a lot longer to make. 

Adora went over to her vanity and pulled out the drawer to take out a red journal. Her mother had brought it back a few months ago when she made the trek to get Adora paints, the ones made from rare white shells that she absolutely adored. The journal itself was well worn, the pages filled with sketches, notes, short stories, diary entries, and anything else Adora could fill the pages with. She skimmed through the pages until she stopped at the one she was looking for and spread her hand at the bottom of the book to hold the book in place.

“This,” Adora said as she pointed to the two pages filled with bullet points she had penned in neat cursive writing. “Is a list of why mother should let me go see the floating lights.”

Pascal looked completely unamused, but watched the journal as Adora traced her fingers along the writing and read.

  * _I have obeyed instructions to stay inside for my entire life._


  * _I allow mother to brush my hair when she asks._


  * _I have done all of my chores with ~~almost~~ no problem._


  * _~~I haven’t questioned her parenting skills.~~_



“I think you get the gist.” Adora said as she closed the journal. She held out her hand for Pascal, as he graciously accepted and made his way to sit on her shoulder. “The point is, I’m ready. I am going to ask her. And she is going to say yes.”

“Adora!” Came a faint voice from outside.

Adora glanced at Pascal nervously. “It’s time.” 

The girl closed the journal, putting it back in the drawer and hurried down the stairs. “One moment mother!” 

Adora reached the large window, which also served as the only entrance and exit to the tower (for her mother only, of course). She quickly gathered up all seventy feet of her hair and looped it onto the hook by the window which allowed her to pull her hair and lift her mother up.

“I’m not getting any younger down here!” Her mother shouted from the base of the tower.

Adora was a tiny bit annoyed, since it was no easy thing to lift someone up a seventy foot tower with only your hair. But Adora wasn’t going to cause her mother any trouble or give any attitude since she knew the weight of what she was going to ask her.

A moment later, a bunch of golden blonde hair was cascading down the tower. Weaver took the bottom section of the hair, looped it, and slid her foot in to make the ascent easier. The girl at the top of the tower pulled and pulled. It was a lot of work, but a perk of having magical hair was that it wasn’t painful.

Weaver reached the top and sat on the window ledge, swinging her legs over and pushing herself off so she was now standing inside the tower.

Adora took her hair off of the hook as she attempted to catch her breath.

“Hello, my darling.” Her mother said as she wrapped her arms around Adora and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

“Hello, mother.” Adora beamed. Her mother seemed to be in a good enough mood today, which only benefited her.

“You won’t believe how hot it is outside, I practically melted!” Her mother joked, fanning her face to emphasize her point. Adora laughed.

“This is why you should be grateful I let you stay inside, I mean, could you imagine dealing with the weather?” Adora’s smile faltered. She about to ask her mother to let her leave the tower, and 

here she was joking about why it was good that she stayed inside.

Adora took a deep breath and gathered up her courage. She looked to the windowsill where Pascal was sitting, and he gave her a reassuring nod.

“So, mother. As you know, today is my birthday-”

“No, no. It can’t be. Your birthday was last year.”

Adora laughed nervously.

“That’s the thing about birthdays, mother. They’re kind of an annual thing.”

Adora stood next to her mother as she looked at herself in the mirror, observing her complexion. She was looking more run down, a few grey hairs now dusted her head and the bags under her eyes had darkened.

“Would you sing to me, dear? I’m feeling a bit run down.” Weaver asked innocently.

“Of course!” Adora exclaimed. She rushed to get the stool and the brush. She ran over to the chair her mother sat in and pulled it over as quickly as she could manage. Weaver had only just sat down in the chair for a few seconds and merely brushed one stroke before Adora had finished singing as fast as she possibly could.

“Now, as you know today is my birthday. And… every year on my birthday, the floating lights happen.” Adora cautiously began, sensing her mother’s annoyance at barely being able to brush her hair.

“Adora, what are you trying to say-”

“I want to see the floating lights!” Adora blurted. She quickly collected herself and began again. “I was hoping…. you would take me to see the floating lights.”

Weaver pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers the way she did when she had a headache, or in this case, when she was annoyed.

“My dear, you know the rules.”

Adora did know the rules. She followed them as best she could. But this one didn’t make sense. She just wanted to see the floating lights, even if it was the only time she was ever allowed outside. She remembered her list of reasons for why she should be allowed to leave the tower.

“I know, but-”

“No buts. It’s dangerous out there, my flower. The world is filled with cruel people, you know this. You are fragile and delicate, do you know what people do to things that are fragile and delicate?” Weaver said in a voice she rarely used, one that was stern enough to frighten Adora. ”They break them.”

“Well maybe if you would come with me then-”

“Then what? I could protect you? I do that but having you stay in this tower every day, Adora.”

The blonde slumped in the stool, looking at the ground and letting herself sulk in the aftermath of her mother’s rejection. Her mother gently reached forward and lifted her chin.

“I love you very much. I know it may seem harsh, but I couldn’t stand to see you get hurt.” Weaver said, mirroring Adora’s look of disappointment.

“I know.” Adora sighed, meeting her mother’s gaze. “I love you more.”

“I love you most.”

Weaver got up from the chair and headed to the small kitchen area. She turned around.

“I’m sorry it has to be this way, but I know what I must do for your safety.” She said. “Mother knows best.”

Adora nodded slowly. Pascal sat on the windowsill, looking at the blonde with a frown of sympathy. Adora sat there for a few moments, pondering her next move. She wanted to see the lights more than anything, she just needed a way to convince her mother. Maybe later.

Weaver walked back to where Adora was sitting, basket in hand.

“I’m going to get stuff for dinner.” She simply stated.

Adora gave a quiet “Okay” and walked to the window. She looped her hair around the hook and lowered her mother down carefully.

She lingered there for a while after her mother had left, her hair blowing in the breeze outside the tower. Adora crossed her arms on the windowsill and rested her head on top, staring at grass as if it held the answers. She would talk to her mother again later, she promised herself. 

And maybe this time, she would say yes.

______________________________

Catra was out of breath by the time she made it to the woods, her legs shaking from exhaustion. She decided she was far enough from the castle that she could let herself take a break. She walked by a few trees and picked one that had a decent amount of shade. One that happened to have a wanted poster with her face on it. She ripped the piece of paper from the tree and examined it. 

“Bunny ears?!” She shrieked. It was getting personal at this point. Catra really didn’t care that she was a wanted criminal, or that her face was plastered on every tree and building in the kingdom. But the least they could do was get her ears right. Catra never thought much of her appearance, Etheria was filled with all sorts of hybrids anyway. But was it really that hard to get a simple pair of cat ears right?

Catra crumpled the paper in her hands before throwing it to the ground. She sunk down to the grass, her back against the tree. It wouldn’t hurt if she closed her eyes for a few minutes.

She was slowly drifting to sleep when a rustling in the bushes woke her right back up. Catra quickly sat up and looked around. Everything went still, it didn’t seem like anything was there. It was probably just the wind. Catra started to get up when a horse trampled out over the bushes. She quickly rolled away and hurried to stand up. The horse paused for a moment, seeming to examine her.

Catra took notice of the saddle the horse was wearing. The front of it had a familiar symbol. A golden sun. The crest of Etheria. 

This was a palace horse. 

As Catra recognized the horse, it also seemed to recognize her as well. Her mind screamed at her to run. 

The horse had looked mad, and Catra knew how well these horses were trained, she knew she had to run. She darted in between trees and bushes as she tried to lose track of the horse and confuse him. It didn’t work too well. The horse was fast, but Catra could be faster. She sped up, her lungs burning and body fueled by nothing but pure adrenaline. 

Catra was now far enough in front of the horse and approaching an area that was thick with trees. Her speed never faltered as she ran straight in and spotted what appeared to be a big wall of stone. Odd. She rounded the corner to find that the wall connected to another one. She heard the horse neigh and knew she would have to find some place to hide, for her legs would not work much longer. 

The rock was covered in greenery, maybe if there was just a little hole or something, she could hide. Catra pressed her hands to the rock to check for an opening. There was nothing. Her hands passed a section of leaves, which she expected to find solid rock underneath. But she was greeted with an opening. The leaves formed a thick curtain in front of this hole in the rock. Perfect.

She stumbled in and put her back against the cold stone wall. The horse was right outside. He stopped for a moment, surveyed the area, and left. Catra let out a sigh of relief.

In her frantic search for a hiding place, she didn’t notice the whole other world that was further down the opening. She hesitantly started walking until the rock formation she had taken cover under was behind her. 

Catra found herself in an open field of greenery, ponds, and animals. It seemed closed off from the rest of the world. But what caught her eye was the tower in the middle of it. It was made of stone and seemed about seventy or eighty feet tall. No problem. Catra just climbed a castle today, what was an extra tower?

Her legs were screaming at her to stop, she wasn’t sure she would make it up the tower. But she was being chased by a palace horse, she had to try. Catra slowly made her way to the tower and grabbed two daggers from her belt. She nudged one into a rock and then did the same with the other, making sure they could hold her weight. 

She continued taking out a dagger, placing it higher, doing the same with the other one, and climbing. Considering everything she had been through this morning, she was scaling the tower pretty fast. She let go of one of the daggers to quickly check the satchel attached to her belt. The crown was still there, safely tucked in the bag. She let out a sigh of relief and continued climbing.

Catra reached the top to find a large window and sat herself on the ledge, allowing herself a moment to catch her breath. She swung her legs over the sill and jumped down.

“Hello?” She asked, checking to see if anyone was there. The tower was small. The tile flooring had been covered with a rug that lay in the middle of the room. It looked to be a liveable space, with stairs leading up to what she assumed to be a bedroom. There was even a small kitchen area. All of the walls had been painted with leaves, birds, and other things. Everything was still, no sign of movement or reply to her greeting.

Catra couldn’t have been more relieved. She reached for her satchel and took the tiara out, finally letting herself have a moment alone with it. It was the most gorgeous thing she had ever seen, and probably the most expensive. She laughed to herself in disbelief of what she had done.

That was the last thing Catra remembered before she felt a blunt pain at the back of her head and her world went black. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, i know i said catra and adora meet this chapter BUT,,, adora smacks her with a frying pan so it counts
> 
> i'm so excited for next chapter,, i'll see y'all soon :)


	3. the stranger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welcome back!
> 
> i have decided that this fic will update every weekend, saturday or sunday. junior year of high school is no joke, so i've decided that weekend updates work best for my schedule 
> 
> (also credit for some of this dialogue goes to the writers of the movie! i won't be following the script to a T, so do expect some changes in the dialogue and plot but nothing too dramatic) 
> 
> this chapter is basically just a lot of gay panic,, i'm so excited and i really hope y'all enjoy :)

Adora screamed and ran to hide behind her mirror. She closed her eyes tightly, as if that would somehow make the unconscious stranger on her floor disappear. She gripped her frying pan so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

_ Frying pans, who knew? _

Obviously Adora wasn’t trained in combat or anything, the most dangerous thing she had done was use a needle to stitch. She remembers her mother taking away her sewing kit for a week after she had pricked her fingers one too many times. And maybe a frying pan wasn’t anyone’s weapon of choice, but what else was she to do when she saw a stranger climbing the tower? She panicked. And she panicked even more now.

Her mother had warned her about this.

‘ _ Ruffians’ _

_ ‘Thugs’ _

_ ‘Men with pointy teeth _ ’

The words echoed in her head. 

Adora took a deep breath and mustered up every ounce of courage she had in her body to open her eyes and look out from behind the mirror. 

The figure on the floor was wearing black pants, matched with a white long sleeve blouse with the sleeves rolled up, and a dark maroon vest. Their identity hidden underneath a sea of dark brown curls. And… cat ears? Adora squinted to find that, yes, the stranger had small, cat-like ears. They resembled the ones on the cat that filled the pages of her favorite childhood storybook. Cats weren’t that scary. Then again, that cat didn’t break into her tower.

Adora slowly walked out from behind the mirror, keeping a good distance between herself and the stranger. She held her frying pan out in front of her as if it were some great shield. She swallowed her fear and proceeded as slowly as humanly possible. All the while trying to ignore the fact that not only had someone broken in, but she had smacked them with a frying pan and they now lay unconscious on the tile floor. 

As Adora’s anxiety threatened to consume her, she quickly closed the distance between her and the figure as fast as she could, like ripping off a bandage. She turned the frying pan around, the handle now facing away from her. Before she could think better of it, she moved the curls that covered the figure’s face with the handle of the pan. And she-

She was beautiful.

Adora was shocked to the point that she felt as if she had been smacked in the face. Her mind drew a blank as she stood there, complete and utterly speechless.

And maybe it was the fact that she had never met a person besides her mother before. Maybe it was the fact that this was the most beautiful person that she had ever seen.

Smooth brown skin was overshadowed with dark curls and long eyelashes. The stranger’s jawline was sharp, and her eyes were closed. She looked at peace (at least, as peaceful as you could be after getting hit with a frying pan).

Adora looked over at Pascal, who had previously taken cover under a table. He had since moved out and onto the floor, closer to the girl. He looked at Adora and brought his hands to his mouth and shaped his fingers into fangs, turning as red as the tile beneath him. Adora would have laughed if she didn’t feel so overwhelmed right now. She hesitantly brought the handle of the frying pan closer to the figure once again, this time lifting up her top lip.

Her breath hitched when she did indeed find pointy teeth, the cat woman seemed to have fangs of some sort. Nothing too dangerous, but unusual to Adora. 

‘ _ Men with pointy teeth’ _

This was a woman, though. So Adora decided that it didn’t count. Her mother would have probably decided otherwise, and scolded her for admiring the stranger when she should be… not doing that. But for the first time in her life, Adora stopped caring about her mother’s rules, just for this moment.

The woman’s eyes shot open and her ears went straight up as well.

_ SMACK _

Adora cringed as she had to use the frying pan as a weapon for the second time that day. She felt bad, the stranger would probably wake to a terrible headache or worse. But they had  _ broken into her home _ , and who knows what they would want with Adora’s hair.

She tucked that thought away in the back of her mind for now. Her mother would be back soon. And it probably wasn’t a good idea to leave the unconscious intruder on the floor as a welcome home gift.

Adora quietly set the frying pan down. She had to think of something, quickly. Hiding the stranger in her room was not a good idea, considering it was a space her mother often invited herself into.

She looked over to Pascal, who had been watching intently as Adora knocked the girl out and then desperately tried to figure out what to do. He pointed at the wardrobe. Adora thought about it for a moment, and it just might work.

It didn’t. Adora had spent more than ten minutes trying to lift the intruder and somehow put her in the wardrobe. She tried lifting the woman up with her arms, and ended up falling backwards. She tried dragging her by her feet, which kind of worked. She tried tying her hair around the woman’s waist and swinging her into the wardrobe. That worked.

Adora leaned against the doors of the wardrobe and gave a sigh of pure relief and exhaustion. She didn’t know if the doors would stay closed, so she placed a rocking chair in front of them for good measure. She dusted off her dress and wiped the beading perspiration off of her forehead. She began to make her way to the window when something on the floor caught her eye. 

Mostly covered by the brown satchel that the intruder had brought with her, there was a funny looking piece of what Adora could only assume to be jewelry on the floor.

Adora didn’t know much about jewelry. She knew her mother always wore a necklace with one single red gem in the middle, but that was it. Her knowledge in the subject was pretty limited. And she had never seen anything like this before in her life. The thing had lots of gems, big and small. There was one at the front of it, and two smaller ones that looked the same by its side. There were small red ones at the bottom, along with blue and white jewels at the top. Everything was connected with some sort of solid gold material, unlike the flexible chain that held the gem in place on her mother’s necklace.

Maybe it went on her wrist? Adora slipped the questionable item onto her arm, but it was much too big. She looked down at Pascal, who shook his head in disapproval. Maybe it was some sort of magnifying glass? Adora looked through the biggest jewel. Pascal shook his head once more, now looking a bit bigger through the magnified gaze of the jewel. Adora gave it one last try.

She turned back to look at herself in the mirror, holding the piece of jewelry in her hands. She placed it on her head slowly and delicately, as if it would shatter in her hands if she moved too fast. Adora closed her eyes as the cool metal rested on the top of her head. It didn’t feel like it was going to fall off. It felt… right. She opened her eyes.

Adora almost didn’t recognize the person staring back at her. Sure, she wore the same dress as always and had the same golden hair. Not much had changed. Yet, she felt like the piece of jewelry on her head was meaningful somehow. She stared in awe at the jewels that adorned her head. Adora was never fond of her eyes, a grey color that tried and failed to be blue. But this thing, this collection of jewels had highlighted and complimented her eyes in a way she never thought possible. It was as if this piece of jewelry was made for her. No, that was a foolish thought. Yet, she felt like something about this was important somehow, but she couldn’t place what it was.

“Adora!” Came the all too familiar voice from the base of the tower.

Adora raced to put the satchel and it’s glamorous contents in a pot across the floor. It wasn’t the best hidden spot, but it was the only thing she could think of. If her mother found out about the satchel and the jewelry, it was only a matter of time before she discovered the stranger in the closet. And Adora couldn’t have any of those things happening, especially when she was trying to prove her responsibility. 

Instead of yelling back to her mother, she simply let her hair fall from the tower in response and started pulling once she felt the weight at the other end. The leftover adrenaline coursing through her body helped her lift her mother up the tower as fast as she ever had.

“I have quite the surprise!” Her mother exclaimed as she all but jumped off the ledge, swinging her basket over with her.

Adora thought of the stranger in the wardrobe.

“I do too.” She nervously laughed.

“I bet my surprise is bigger!” Her mother replied.

_ I seriously doubt it.  _

Her mother unveiled the basket in her hand to reveal parsnips and hazelnuts. “I’m going to make hazelnut soup for dinner! Surprise! Consider it one of your birthday gifts.”

Adora couldn’t help but feel a tinge of guilt at that. Her mother had worked so hard to provide for her. She even went out into the dangerous world everyday, by herself. She always got the best gifts for Adora’s birthday. She had gotten paint when Adora wanted to learn how to paint. She had gotten sketch books when Adora ran out of space to paint. She got thread and sewing material when Adora wanted to learn how to make her own dresses and embroider. And Adora was grateful for it, she really was. Which made asking for something more even harder.

“That’s great, mother. Thank you.” She said as her mother rapped her into a hug.

Adora thought of the stranger in the wardrobe.

_ Wait. _

_ That’s it. _

Mother’s biggest concern was that Adora was weak, that she couldn’t handle herself in the dangerous world. But while she was gone, Adora had. She had proven that she could defend herself. She knocked out a stranger with little hesitation and stuffed them in a wardrobe. She was alone with what could be a thief or a ruffian, and she had held her ground. Sure, the guilt was eating her up inside that she had smacked this stranger twice and then carelessly threw them into a wardrobe. But at least she had something to prove her point.

“You know I hate leaving you after an argument.” Her mother sighed, turning around to unpack her basket on the table. “Especially when I did nothing wrong.”

“About that,” Adora started as she backed up towards the wardrobe. “You see, mother. You may think I can’t handle myself out there-”

“Oh, I know you can’t handle yourself out there.” 

“But if you just give me-” 

“Adora, we have been through this countless times.” Her mother turned around to face Adora as her voice grew more stern.

“Listen, I can-”

“YOU ARE NOT LEAVING THIS TOWER! EVER!”

Adora’s heart sank, her hand brushing against the chair in front of the wardrobe. It was obvious at this point that she wasn’t getting anywhere with her mother, not if she didn’t listen to what she had been trying to say. 

Her mother took a long breath and pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers.

“I hate yelling, Adora. But I cannot have you risking your life because you what? Want to see some stars?” 

They weren’t stars. Adora had charted stars last year and found that they were always constant. These lights only happen once a year on her birthday. And as much as Adora wanted to see them, she didn’t have it in her to argue with her mother anymore.

“All I was going to say is that…. I know what I want for my birthday now.” She said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Her mother sat down in a chair across the room, as if the very thought of talking to her daughter was exhausting.

“And what would that be?”

“Paint.” Adora said. “The kind made from the white shells.”

“That is a very long trip, Adora. It would take me at least three days.” Her mother sighed.

“I just- I thought it was a better idea than the stars.”

Her mother looked as if she was considering it for a moment, and to Adora’s surprise, she agreed. About an hour later, she was packing her mother’s basket with apples, cheese, bread, and any other foods that her mother would need for the journey. Luckily for her, there were no movements or sounds from the wardrobe in that hour. 

“I’ll be back in three days time, my flower.” Her mother said, stroking the blonde’s hair and pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I love you so much.”

“I love you more.”

“I love you most.”

And with that, her mother was off. And Adora ran from the window to begin her scheme.

______________________________

Catra woke with a start. She didn’t know where she was, her head hurt, and there was a lizard on her shoulder.

_ There was a lizard on her shoulder? _

_ What the fuck. _

Out of all the things that could have happened today, a lizard smacked her awake and then hopped off of her shoulder like this was part of his daily routine. This was odd already. What was even more strange was that she was tied in a chair. But it wasn’t rope, or any fabric. It almost looked like…. hair? No, it couldn’t be.

She looked around the tower for any sign of light, catching a hint of movement on a beam above. 

“Struggling- struggling is pointless.” The voice said. 

Catra squinted, trying to get a glimpse of the figure. They jumped down from the beam with surprising swiftness before she could get a better look. Catra was normally one for quick witted responses, but any words that formed in her brain had dissolved on her tongue as her captor emerged from the shadows.

The woman had long, golden hair and eyes that looked blue or grey, Catra couldn’t tell. She looked to be about an inch or two taller than Catra, and slightly more toned. Her cheekbones and jawline were sharp, appearing more prominent by the shadows still partially covering her face. She wore a red dress with light and dark red embroidery in swirling designs that accented the gown. A simple corset accentuated her waist, a lighter red than the bottom of the dress. Her sleeves were short, slightly puffy, and striped, with thin white three quarter sleeves covering the rest of her arms. She was breathtaking, even if Catra wouldn’t let herself think that. No matter how gorgeous this woman was, she was still her captor. 

“Who are you? And how did you find me?” The woman asked.

Catra cleared her throat.

“Did you- did you tie me up with your hair?” She asked. It wasn’t the best conversation starter, but her mind had blanked and she really couldn’t get over the fact that this girl had used her hair to tie her up.

“Who are you and how did you find me?” The blonde asked, slightly raising her voice as she sternly repeated the question, holding out a frying pan as if it was some great sword that would definitely make anyone feel threatened and scared for their life.

  
_ Why does she have a frying pan? _

“Who are  _ you _ and why do you have me tied up with your hair?” Catra retorted.

The blonde looked annoyed at Catra avoiding her question, but she really didn’t feel like swapping pleasantries with her captor.

“Why are you so concerned about my hair? Do you want to cut it? Sell it?” The girl asked as she circled the chair that Catra was currently tied to, frying pan at the ready.

“First of all, blondie-”

“My name is Adora.”

“What kind of name- you know what, nevermind.” Catra didn’t enjoy being interrupted, but she also didn’t have time to give this girl an attitude. She just wanted to get out of her hair, quite literally. “Why on earth would I want your hair?”

“You- you don’t… want my hair?” The blonde’s face fell and she lowered her frying pan as though she were expecting a different answer.

“No! The only thing I want to do with your hair,” Catra tugged on her restraints. “Is to get out of it!”

Adora looked crestfallen. Was she upset that Catra didn’t want her hair? Was Catra supposed to want her hair? Was it something else? The blonde stepped closer, holding out her frying pan once more, handle facing Catra. She lifted her chin with the handle and looked awfully serious for someone currently using a frying pan as a weapon.

“I am not going to ask you again. Who are you and how did you find me?”

“My name is Flynn Ryder.” It wasn’t. At least, it wasn’t her real name. But Catra despised her name when she was younger and all of the kids at the orphanage would make fun of her for it. She changed it when she started thieving, desperately wanting people to take her seriously. But she wasn’t about to tell her captor any of that.

“Ok,  _ Flynn _ . Why did you climb my tower? Why are you here?”

“Look, princess.” Adora looked like she would kill Catra if she called her ‘blondie’ one more time, and she looked to be considering it even more with Catra’s new nickname. “I was being chased, I saw a tower, I climbed it. And if you missed it, I asked if anyone was there. If you didn’t want me in this tower, you could have just told me to leave.”

_ Wait. _

_ She was being chased because she had the tiara.  _

_ Where was it? _

“Where is my satchel?” Catra yelled, trying to jump out of the chair as if it would release her from her restraints. 

The blonde looked smug, as if pleased with the fact that she had not only knocked Catra out, tied her up, but also hid her belongings.

“I’ve hidden it. Somewhere you’ll never find it.”

Adora backed off a bit and lowered her frying pan. Catra watched as Adora lowered her arm to the ground and her weird frog thing hopped up and climbed to her shoulder. The two turned around and seemed to be deep in conversation for a few minutes. This situation truly could not get any weirder. First, her hair is like seventy feet long. Secondly, she talks to her frog. Totally normal.

“I’m prepared to offer you a deal, Flynn Ryder.” The blonde turned around, lizard on shoulder. She began walking towards the left side of the tower, pulling her hair as if Catra was supposed to follow her while she was still tied up. “Look this way.”

Catra, in fact, did not look that way. She really didn’t get a chance to before her chair fell off balance. Her quick reflexes allowed her to turn the chair at the last moment, so she didn’t fall flat on her face. It still hurt, though.

“Can part of the deal be not getting slammed onto the floor, princess?” 

“Oops, sorry!” The blonde cringed as if she didn’t mean to hurt her hostage, but continued with her deal unfazed.

Adora climbed up onto a ledge and pulled back a red curtain to reveal a painting. A night sky above mountains and a forest were depicted in swirls of blues and purples and greens. Pops of yellows and faint oranges decorated the night sky. Sitting upon one of the trees and facing the sky was a figure with long, golden hair who Catra could only assume to be Adora.

“Every year, the night sky is filled with these lights-”

“You mean the lantern thing they do for the princess?” Catra asked, completely unamused and still very much in the chair that was now sideways on the floor. The blonde whispered something to herself in revelation as if it hadn’t occurred to her that the lights in the sky were lanterns.

“Yes. I want you to act as my guide, and take me to see these lanterns.” Adora hopped down from the ledge. “If you can do that, I will give you your satchel back. That is my deal.”

Catra thought of the wanted posters plastered all over the kingdom with her face on it. She couldn’t very well march straight back into a kingdom she was a known thief in, especially after stealing a crown jewel.

“Listen, blondie-”

“Adora!”

“Alright! The kingdom and I aren’t on good terms at the moment, so I won’t be taking you anywhere,  _ Adora _ .”

Adora jumped off the ledge and began walking towards Catra.

“Whatever brought you here, Flynn Ryder. Call it what you want. Fate, destiny-”

“A horse.”

“Well I have made the decision to trust you.”

“A horrible decision, really.”

Adora tugged her hair to pull Catra’s chair off of the ground.

Adora placed one arm on the left of Catra, holding the chair in place. Catra couldn’t help but think about how close their faces were. Adora’s face was masked in absolute seriousness, her grey-blue eyes were intense. She was trying to be intimidating, and as much as Catra hated to admit it, it was working.

_ Her lips look soft. _

Shut the fuck up, Catra. Get it together.

“But trust me when I tell you this. You can tear this tower apart brick by brick, but without my help, you will never find your precious satchel.” Adora’s voice was stern, and Catra knew there was intent behind every word she said. 

Catra was always one to find a way out of anything. She had made many close escapes throughout her career as a thief, the latest one being only today. She was smart and quick, and most average shopkeepers and palace guards weren’t any match for her. But, if she spent the day in the kingdom, she would be letting down her guard. She would be vulnerable out in the open. And sure, hiding out in the open was sometimes the best option. But probably not when your face is on every corner and building in the kingdom. Yet, if this girl was desperate enough to ask a wanted criminal to be her guide, she really didn’t see another option. Plus, she needed that damn tiara.

“Fine.” Catra relented.

The blonde’s face went from serious to ecstatic in a matter of seconds, completely letting down her guard.

“Thank you!” Adora squealed as a result of barely contained excitement. Once she realized that she probably wasn’t intimidating anymore, she quickly schooled her face back to careful indifference. She cleared her throat and deepened her voice as if Catra would suddenly forget about her outburst. “I mean, yeah, of course you will.”

Catra tried to fight her laughter, but despite her best efforts, she still smiled at the blonde’s excitement and the attempt at intimidation shortly after. 

“You know, I can’t take you anywhere if you don’t untie me.”

______________________________

It wasn’t Adora’s best work, or her best option. But she made due with what she had. Her mother had given her a firm no, and despite her plan to prove herself, she knew mother would not budge. So what better idea then to go against her mother’s demands while she was on a conveniently long trip? Adora fought the urge to pat herself on the back for that one, she was too clever sometimes. And maybe she was a bit too confident in her plan to sneak out, but she would have to be if she was going against the only thing she had ever known.

The woman, ‘Flynn Ryder’ as she called herself, was probably not going to be the best guide. Adora knew that. Pascal knew that, and voiced his opinion as much as he could in the two minutes of unamused facial expressions when Adora had turned around to defend herself while out of ear length of her hostage.

She thought about the woman’s smirk and her sarcasm, her quick witted responses and her eyes and-

Everything about this woman was trouble. But through Adora’s careful deal making and even more careful stern tone, learned from a lifetime of conversation with her mother, Adora was sure that Flynn wouldn’t hurt her. Yes, Adora had serious concerns about how she came upon the thing in her satchel, but she would do for now. As for her mother, she had her chance. If she didn’t want Adora finding the closest stranger to take her to see the lanterns, she should have taken her herself. It wasn’t Adora’s fault. Or it was. She really couldn’t decide.

“You coming, blondie?” Came a voice from lower on the tower, but it wasn’t her mother this time.

“Yes, just- just give me a minute.” Adora called back down, her voice fading out on the last few words.

She had spent the last ten minutes readying herself to go against eighteen years worth of limiting herself to only dreaming about this moment. Eighteen years stuck in this tower. Eighteen years with only one person and a chameleon. Eighteen years obeying the rules. And within minutes, Adora was going to ruin it all. If her mother found out, it would tear her apart. Their relationship would never be the same. She would be furious. Maybe she shouldn’t-

No.

Adora was doing this. By the time her mother was back, she would be back in the tower, safe and sound. Flynn would be her guide and return her safely, as promised. Only one fear resided in the back of her mind.

_ What if I like the outside so much that I never want to come back? _

Adora took a deep breath and let go of her hair. It was now or never. She slowly began sliding down, gaining speed throughout her descent.

She laughed as the wind tickled her face. She felt like she was flying. Why didn’t she do this before? What else in the outside world was she missing out on?

Adora abruptly came to a halt when she reached the ground, holding onto her hair for dear life. She was suspended just a few inches above the grass. It looked even greener from down here, if that was possible. She had been yelled at by her mother, kidnapped a complete stranger, made a deal with said stranger, descended seventy feet from her tower all by herself, and yet this was the most terrifying part.

She closed her eyes and slowly lowered her foot down.

She was met with the soft, lush feeling of the grass. Adora wanted more. She lowered both feet on the ground and finally let go of her hair. She let out a sigh of relief and laughed at her fear of this moment. 

She splayed out onto the grass, turning around and laying on her back. She basked in the wonderful sun and looked up at the sky. Oh, what a wonder it was from this point of view. The fresh air filled her lungs and she felt a sense of renewal. Everything about this world was great already, and she had only been out of her tower for five minutes.

Adora got up and ran to one of the ponds that sat at the base of the tower. With no hesitation, she jumped in the ankle-deep water. The splash partly soaked the bottom of her dress, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. She scooped some of the freshwater in her hands and threw it up into the air, letting it rain on her.

Now that she was free, there was no stopping her. She picked flowers, real ones, not just the kind she made a mockery of with her stitching. Nothing could compare to the delicate whites and yellows and blues that scattered the field at the bottom of the tower. 

She ran to her heart’s content, finding the feeling exhilarating. And when she was out of breath, she drank in more of the fresh air and loved the feeling, even if it burned her lungs.

So this was it. This was freedom. The smells and feelings she had dreamed about were real and, for this one moment,  _ hers _ . Adora had spent her entire life stuck in a tower, wondering when her life would begin.

And it just did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the interaction between rapunzel and eugene when he wakes up and she tries to make a deal with him is my favorite thing ever,, i loved writing that scene between adora and catra 
> 
> it was also such a serotonin boost to write adora finally leaving the tower and feeling free, writing her character in general is just so therapeutic
> 
> until next week ;)


	4. the snuggly duckling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't know what i expected when i started writing this fic at 1 am but it was definitely not this many kudos and hits so thank you so much for all the love!!
> 
> this chapter has so much fluff but theres a lot of angst coming up so enjoy it while it lasts ;)

Adora was having a breakdown.

She’d had five, to be exact. Which was strange for someone who seemed so eager to get out of her tower and go see some floating lights.

It had been about an hour since the two had started their journey to Etheria. Within this hour, Adora had gone from ecstatic to miserable at least five times (Catra stopped keeping track). Everything had gone well at first, despite Catra being kind of offended that the blonde hadn’t offered her a ride down the tower. The last hour was best summed up in these moments.

______________________________

  
  


“I can’t believe I did this!” Adora exclaimed. It was about five minutes into the journey and Adora was barely keeping it together. She never stopped smiling, and was always slowing her pace to admire the grass or passing clouds. Did this girl ever go outside? 

If the blonde noticed how unamused Catra was, it didn’t interfere with her excitement. Adora had managed to pick a small bouquet of flowers. She looked at the daisies in her hand as if she had never seen them before. She looked at the world like that. Like the dirt and the weeds were magical things that would tell Adora the secrets of the universe if she looked long enough. And for a moment, Catra wished she could be that excited about the mundane things in this life.

“Careful there, princess. Any more excitement and you might burst a blood vessel.”

Adora gave Catra this  _ look _ and Catra really wished that it didn’t have the effect that it did. Everything about this girl was so effortlessly perfect, it was infuriating.

“Sorry, I’ve just- I’ve never done anything like this.” Adora said quietly. She kept her gaze on the flowers in her hand, clearly avoiding eye contact with Catra.

“Done… anything like what? Go outside?” Catra asked jokingly. She felt a tinge of regret when Adora looked up. The joy that had previously occupied her features had seemingly washed away. She looked… sad almost. The blonde nodded.

“You’ve never gone outside?” Catra stopped walking. She was only joking, she didn’t expect this to actually be the girl’s first time outside. Adora stopped walking as well, but she didn’t face Catra.

“I wasn’t allowed. Mother didn’t want me getting hurt. She said it was dangerous.” Adora turned back, her eyes finally meeting Catra. She said this as if it was normal, as if everyone spent their first eighteen years of life locked up in a tower. Adora smiled softly, and Catra knew there was a bit of sadness underneath, and another emotion she couldn’t quite place. 

Catra didn’t know what to say, so she didn’t say anything. The pair continued walking.

______________________________

  
  


“Mother would be so furious!”

Adora was not the ray of sunshine she was ten minutes ago. Catra didn’t know a lot about mothers, but she was sure Adora’s was fine. While it did seem unusual that she wasn’t allowed outside, it was probably a rule made out of love and wanting to protect her. 

“Maybe she won’t be. It's normal for kids to rebel at some point.” Catra would know this because she did rebel…. for practically her entire life.

“It's not like that.” Adora shook her head, clearly in distress. “She was so clear that she didn’t want me going out and what if something happened? She wouldn’t-”

Catra made her move before she could think better of it. She quickened her pace so she was now a few steps in front of Adora. She turned to face the blonde, putting her arms on her shoulders. Adora stopped and looked up at her, eyes widened with surprise of the sudden contact. 

“You will be fine. You seem like you follow the rules enough,” Adora nodded. “Then she won’t have a problem with you breaking them this once.”

Adora didn’t say anything in response, but she looked better than she did two minutes ago. That was progress. They stood there for a moment, frozen in time. Adora broke eye contact for the first time in what felt like years and looked down at Catra’s hands on her shoulders. Catra snapped out of the grey-blue eyes induced haze and felt her face heat. She cursed whoever had decided that embarrassment needed to be shown so obviously. Catra pulled her arms away quickly, tearing away from the blonde’s gaze. She stopped when she felt a hand on her wrist.

  
Adora had stopped Catra from completely pulling her hands away by gently taking her wrist and holding it for a moment. Catra looked back up at her.

“Thank you.” Adora smiled softly, this time with pure happiness and something else Catra would not analyze right now. 

“Yeah, uh, no problem.”

  
_ God, Catra. You really have such a way with words, don’t you? _

Catra mentally kicked herself for her stupid response. Something about Adora just made her brain stop working. When she looked at her, everything else disappeared and the five foot tall woman with blonde hair and blue eyes made up her world for that moment. Catra couldn’t speak and she couldn’t think, which obviously showed in the gesture she just made. Was it too early to do something like that? They had only known each other for like an hour. But then again, they would part ways after seeing the lanterns, so there was never really going to be a right time. 

Catra decided to ignore the hint of red on Adora’s cheeks before she turned around and continued walking.

______________________________

  
  


That was really all Catra vividly remembered. Her brain short-circuited after that moment, and the next forty or so minutes were just Adora’s early mid-life crisis. Catra had felt off ever since she tried to comfort Adora. She wasn’t used to people comforting her, and she didn’t comfort people in return. The whole idea just made her anxious. She convinced herself that it was good if she was nice to this girl, maybe it would help her get her satchel back quicker. Catra didn't try again, letting the blonde figure it out herself. It might have been rude, but when Catra asked if Adora was okay, she said she was fine. There was nothing else Catra could do.

But considering Adora was currently sitting on the ground, hands covering her face and head resting on her knees, Catra was going to assume that she was probably not fine. Adora looked like she was crying, although Catra couldn’t see her face to make sure. 

Adora took her head out of her lap and wiped her puffy eyes with the palms of her hands.

“Sorry.” She said. Her mouth stayed open, as if she was about to say something more, but she quickly shut it.

Catra stood for a moment before finally relenting and sitting on the ground next to Adora.

“If you feel this bad about leaving, then why don’t we just go back?” She asked. Adora looked at her as if she was crazy.

“No. I am seeing those lanterns.” Adora stated in between shaky breaths. She tried to collect herself, dusting off her dress and getting up as she continued to sniffle. 

It wasn’t a bad suggestion. At least, Catra didn’t think so. Adora seemed to be upset about going against her mother’s rules, so why not just go back to the tower? Problem solved. Catra wasn’t going to sit here and pry into this stranger’s life secrets, but she really didn’t understand why Adora didn’t want to go back. She took a deep breath and stood up.

“Sorry for suggesting it then.” Catra mumbled, louder than she intended. Adora didn’t look phased by her comment. Instead, crossing her arms and staring down the other woman.

“Why are you so concerned about going back? You know the deal.” She pointed at Catra accusingly. 

“I’m going to be nice,” Catra walked over to Adora and patted her on the back. “I’ll let you out of the deal.”

“What?” Adora’s response was mostly breath, as if the thought of breaking the deal had knocked the wind out of her. Catra kept face serious, trying to match the same intensity in the grey-blue eyes staring back at her. 

“You heard me.”

Adora held out the frying pan as if she was going to smack Catra with it once again. Catra took a mental note to not let this girl get a hold of any actual weapons.

“You just want the satchel back!” Adora accused.

“Well obviously, princess.” Catra put a hand on her hip, officially declaring herself as unamused.

Adora opened her mouth to respond but was cut short by a rustling in the bushes to their left. Catra finally broke eye contact to see what it was. Everything that happened next was a blur. Before Catra could even protest, Adora had jumped onto her back. She hooked her legs around Catra’s waist. If she tightened her arms around Catra’s neck anymore, she would pass out. Catra almost fell backwards, completely taken aback by the addition of the extra weight so soon.

The source of the mysterious rustling in the bush made their presence known.

A bunny.

Catra laughed. “Watch out, Adora. It can probably smell fear.”

Adora lowered herself down from Catra’s back slowly. Catra’s laughter continued as the blonde’s face grew more red.

“Sorry, I guess I’m just a bit jumpy.” Adora said quietly, her voice uneven. She lowered her eyes to stare at the ground.

“You think?” Catra doubled over with laughter, struggling to catch her breath.

Adora elbowed her in the side.

“Ow!” 

Catra’s laughter had stopped as Adora smiled. It was soft, her eyes kind. Useless warmth coiled in Catra’s stomach and she cursed herself for the way her face began to heat up. Catra would have nudged her back or something, but her brain was not forming coherent thoughts at the moment. Instead, she continued walking and the pair fell into silence. It wasn’t an awkward silence, but actually rather comfortable. Catra thanked whatever higher power there was for the breeze. In the middle of summer, the Etherian heat showed no mercy. But the breeze was nice, and so was the shade from the trees. The coolness helped distract from the burning blush on her face. The gaps in tree branches allowed for light to sneak through, the small spots of sun tickling her skin. Catra looked over to see Adora moving her fingers in the light as if she was trying to catch it. 

Catra’s moment of bliss was interrupted by a growling stomach.  _ Her _ stomach, she realized. She cursed herself for skipping breakfast this morning. Butterflies seemed to make a home for themselves in her stomach for the entire morning, a result of her anxiety at the mission. She was in no mood to eat then, but figured that once they were out of the kingdom they could stop by a pub or something. But given that she was chased by a horse, climbed a tower, got kidnapped and held hostage, and was now on a journey to see lanterns, she didn’t have time to grab something to eat. But she knew where they could find something.

Catra slowly began to recognize the area they were walking through, noting the familiar dirt road and the very crooked wooden fence that she saw was yet to be replaced. 

“Are you hungry?” She asked Adora. The blonde looked up at her as if she hadn’t even considered that they would need food for the trip that would take more than a day.

“Yes,” Adora began, a look of guilt weighed down her features. “I really should have packed some food-”

“Nonsense. It’s actually good that you didn’t.” Adora looked confused as ever, but she let Catra finish. “There’s a great pub down here, you’ll know it when you smell it.”

“A… pub?” Adora looked even more confused.

“Uh, yeah. Like, a place to get food and drinks.” Catra answered like it should’ve been obvious. She forgot that Adora didn’t get out much.

“Like… water?”

“Like alcohol, princess.”

The pub was slowly coming into view, the pair slowing their pace. It was run down and looked like it was about to fall over. Catra knew this was because of the tree that had grown directly next to the pub, the roots lifting up the foundation. Quite frankly, it was a disaster waiting to happen. But the old building was stubborn, and had not yet shown any signs of serious damage. There were a few chimneys and a very mismatched roof, as if the builders couldn’t decide on one design to follow. The exterior was wood, with small glass windows. A few horses waited outside, their riders currently in the pub. A wooden sign on the road depicted a bright yellow duck and below it in neat, careful writing read  _ The Snuggly Duckling. _

Adora stopped for a moment, admiring the sign. Catra swore she saw little sparkles in her eyes as she stared at the bright yellow duck in pure awe. 

“You okay there, princess?” Catra raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

“It's just- it's such a cute duck.” Adora looked like she could cry. 

“ _ So  _ cute. Now can we eat?” Catra’s voice was covered with sarcasm, a sliver of annoyance slipping into her last sentence. Adora looked at her as she seemed to snap out of the yellow duck-induced haze she had been in.

“Oh, yeah. Right.” Adora continued walking as if nothing had happened.

Catra had been in this place a few times before, often bringing along Scorpia and Entrapta. The food was okay, the atmosphere was mediocre. She didn’t care much for the people either. The pub was infamous for being a safe haven for thieves all over Etheria. But the last time Catra had been here was well over a year ago, and she wasn’t sure if she knew the current occupants of the pub.

The two women approached the door. Adora looked a little nervous, holding her frying pan closer to her. Catra opened the door and stepped in first. 

_ Damn, this place has changed. _

The first thing Catra noticed was the lack of odor that usually assaulted her senses the moment she opened the door. Instead, she was met with the smell of baked goods, fruit, and….  _ flowers? _

_ Odd. _

The layout changed dramatically. Dozens of plants sat in corners and hanging baskets. Flowers sat in carefully placed vases on every table. Vines were woven in between the gaps on the railings of the stairs and second level. Pink and white flowers sprouted from the vines, bold and bright against the otherwise rustic interior. If Catra wasn’t slightly disgusted with the fact that it looked as if a rainbow had thrown up all over the place, she might’ve been impressed with the difference. It looked more inviting and less like it was run by the felons of Etheria.

And looking at the patrons, she discovered that it wasn’t. Behind the bar were a couple who she assumed to be the owners. One of the owners, a woman with sea-colored hair and an unamused expression, was talking with a patron at the far end of the bar. The man, who donned a maroon mustache and looked as if he had stepped straight out of a pirate ship, was filling drinks. But they weren’t the usual dull yellow of beer, but rather much thicker and colorful. Smoothies, Catra guessed. Disgusting. 

Scattered across the room were tables half full with the rest of the occupants. At one sat a woman with short, dark blue hair. She looked quite young. The woman sitting across from her, a blonde wearing absolutely way too much pink, seemed to be explaining a card game to her. A few tables down was a woman with dark skin and white hair. She looked over to the woman at the bar, pink haired and also wearing way too much pink and purple. Catra figured the two must be here together. The rest of the bar was filled with lots of people very much like the first few patrons Catra noticed. Lots of colorful hair and more colorful clothing, it made Catra nauseous. 

Catra was a few steps into the pub, stepping aside to make way for the woman behind her. The two were already drawing attention to themselves, probably due to Adora’s expression. She looked absolutely terrified. Her frying pan was completely out in front of her and she looked more than ready to use it if need be. 

“You good there, princess?” Catra whispered, darting her eyes back and forth between the blonde and the rest of the people. 

Adora didn’t respond, but she did start to slowly make her way into the building. Catra really didn’t understand why she was so terrified. Based on the patrons and the decor, the worst that could happen was a flower dying. These people did not look intimidating whatsoever. They were a stark contrast to Catra’s dark and intimidating exterior, yet Adora had trusted her for some reason. She would be fine in the same room as these people for five minutes. 

The blonde woman wearing too much pink, both in the flowers in her hair and her dress, was the first to really look at the situation at the door. She didn’t seem intimidating, she looked like she talked to her plants. But the expression she wore was…. concerning. Her face was serious and more intimidating than Catra was ready to give her credit for. 

The woman rose out of her seat, laying down the cards in her hand. She began to walk toward them. Adora was now in front of Catra, and the door closed behind them. Adora held out her frying pan like it was her desperate last hope, as if this flower girl was about to kill her.

The moment the woman reached Adora, her face broke out into a smile. Her eyes lit up and she was practically glowing. 

“Hello! We haven’t had visitors in so long!” She said excitedly, grasping her hands together. 

Adora didn’t respond.

“Oh no! Sorry if I scared you, Frosta and I were just playing poker. I can get really focused sometimes. Can I give you a hug?”

Catra reached to disarm Adora, who surprisingly released her grip on the frying pan. The woman wrapped Adora up in a hug, and after a moment’s hesitation, Adora wrapped her arms around her as well. It was sweet, but Catra thought a simple handshake would’ve sufficed.

“I’m Perfuma.” The woman, Perfuma, said. 

“A-Adora. I’m Adora.” The blonde stammered.

Perfuma looked over to Catra, and her face instantly fell. Catra’s heart sank. She knew the words that were going to leave Perfuma’s mouth before she even said them.

“You look familiar.” Perfuma began, stepping closer to Catra.

“Well, I’ve been here before-”

“Flynn Ryder!” Perfuma’s face lit up with recognition, before turning into something akin to disgust and anger.    
  


Adora spun around, looking at the two of them.

“Wait, how do you know-”

“She's a wanted criminal.” Perfuma bit out in a response to Adora’s half-asked question. She yelled at a young man sitting at the table closest to them to get the palace guards.

“Perfuma, Perfuma. Look, it's fine.” Catra shrugged, trying to remain calm. She draped her arm over Adora’s shoulder, pulling her closer. “Me and Adora here were just going to get some food and see some lanterns. Or, we could just take our business elsewhere.”

Perfuma was glaring daggers. Catra could tell she thought that Adora was in some kind of danger being here with her. But Catra’s crimes never amounted to anything more than thievery. She didn’t like the fact that she had to go into the kingdom, and she really didn’t plan on going on this trip. But she would never hurt Adora.

“Is it fine?” Perfuma said, doubt and anger coloring her voice. Catra started to notice that the other patrons weren’t just watching this confrontation, but a few had gathered behind Perfuma. The woman looked to Adora, her face relaxing somewhat. “Adora, are you sure you’re safe with this- this thief?”

Catra held her breath. She looked anywhere but Adora, too scared to remove the arm she rested on her shoulder. Adora was probably going to say no. She was going to tell Perfuma all about how terrible of a guide Catra was, how she was nothing but a last resort. How Catra couldn’t even-

“Yes.” Adora said after a moment of silence. Her answer was firm and confident.

Catra was only allowed a moment of relief before she felt someone grabbing her arms from behind, taking away the frying pan. She yelped in pain and surprise - whoever this was had a firm grip. She was pulled away from Adora and held closer to the bar. Catra couldn’t fully turn around to see who was holding her there. All she got was a glimpse of white hair and dark skin. 

Perfuma had whisked Adora aside as the other patrons of the pub began to surround Catra. She had severely misjudged this crowd, clearly they were very much capable of threats and intimidation. Catra was done for. The palace guards were on their way, and she was cornered and restrained. The only person here that might have anything nice to say in her defense had been whisked away, no longer in Catra’s field of vision. Catra recognized the woman in front of her as Frosta, the one that was playing poker with Perfuma. Frosta raised her fist as if she were about to strike Catra right in the face. This was it.

______________________________

  
  


_ SMACK _

That was the third time today.

Adora really needed to stop doing that to people she didn’t know. But she panicked, as she did the other two times. Flynn was in trouble. The people in this place were strange to Adora, she had never seen that many people before. But Perfuma had seemed nice enough, and so she let her guard down. But in the true fashion of the dangerous outside world, it didn’t end well. Flynn was now surrounded by almost everyone in the bar. Her arms were held behind her back, restraining her. There was a girl in front of her with short, dark blue hair. She looked like she was ten years old, but she was intimidating. Even more so now that she was winding up a fist in front of Flynn’s face. 

Adora had rushed away from Perfuma’s side while she was distracted by the chaos at the bar. She jumped onto a table, trying to get a better view. And she saw it - her chance. Right by the crowd was a wooden pole, probably to support the building. On the pole was something that looked like a lever. It was most likely for decoration. Adora hoped it was.

This would have to work, she didn’t have much time. Adora threw the end of her hair and pulled so it would wrap around the lever. She tugged once more, and the lever was raised. She waited just a moment - until the last possible second before the woman was about to hit Catra. Now.

She released her hair.

The lever was sent down and hit the woman right on the head.

She lowered her fist, the crowd around her freezing for a moment. They looked around to see what was happening. 

“LET HER GO!” Adora shouted. Her voice was shaky and weak, probably not scary at all. She half expected the patrons to laugh at her, and then return their attention to Flynn. Adora never yelled. Her mother had a few times over the years and it was terrifying. She cringed at the thought of even having to raise her voice. But it was what she needed to do. 

The woman standing behind Flynn had loosened her grip, and Flynn pulled away. She rubbed her wrists as if they hurt, but her face masked any sign of pain. Blue and yellow eyes met Adora’s and she completely forgot what she was going to say. She forgot where she was, she forgot her name, and she forgot everything because in that moment, it all fell away. The only thing she could comprehend was the sight of those eyes, blue and yellow, staring back at her and widened with shock.

The crowd now looked at Adora, as if awaiting an explanation. She was not good at talking in front of people she didn’t know. But if it was what she had to do to save Flynn, she would do it.

“Tonight is the night I am  _ finally  _ going to see the lanterns after  _ dreaming  _ about them for my whole life, and I can’t do that without her!” Adora yelled, pointing at Flynn. She closed her eyes and took a shaky breath to calm herself. “Haven’t any of you ever had a dream?”

The man with the maroon mustache who had been anxiously waiting behind the bar perked up at Adora’s question. He pushed the crowd aside, all of them looking annoyed as he passed. 

“Why, of course I have a dream!” He announced, his voice filling the room. He practically skipped over to the piano at the far right side of the building and began running his fingers across the keys.

The other owner, the woman with the sea-colored hair, covered her face with her hand in embarrassment.

“Seahawk, what did I tell you about shanties?” She groaned.

The man, Seahawk, continued as if the woman hadn’t said anything. He happily played the piano and began an impromptu song about his dreams, most of which included sailing the seas and singing his shanties.

The crowd had thinned out, some of the occupants going back to their tables as if nothing had happened. Everyone pointedly ignored the music, except for Perfuma.

Adora blinked, taking in everything that had just happened. She stepped down from the table and rushed over to Flynn who looked just as confused as she felt.

“Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine, princess.” Flynn said, but there was no heat to it. She gave a small smile and handed Adora her frying pan.

Adora looked over to Perfuma who’s attention was now divided between Seahawk and Flynn.

“Thank you for being concerned, Perfuma. But I’m fine with Flynn, I promise.” Adora smiled as she tried her best to be convincing.

Perfuma turned to her and put her arms on Adora’s shoulders. She smiled softly.

“I believe you, Adora. Everyone deserves a second chance, even Flynn Ryder.” Perfuma said the name with gritted teeth, but looked like she wasn’t going to press the issue any further. “I think seeing the lanterns is a great dream.”

______________________________

  
  


The next half hour was filled with introductions and conversations of dreams. 

The group had pushed a few tables together, now sitting and talking as if they had known each other for years.

Perfuma’s dream was to garden. She loved flowers and plants, and was responsible for the ones that now decorated the pub. She also liked meditation and was very spiritual (Adora had no idea what that meant and she wasn’t going to question it). Perfuma talked about the healing powers some plants had, and the legends that floated around of the magical flower used to heal the queen some eighteen years ago. She talked about how to properly care for flowers, and even gave Catra and Adora each a pink flower to put in their hair to match hers. Adora gladly accepted, tucking the flower behind her ear. Catra looked at her flower like it was a threat (she was not thrilled by the amount of pink and flowers she had seen today). In the end, Catra had given her flower to Adora.

Seahawk, one of the owners of the bar and the one man band of the joint, spoke of his dreams as well. He was a prior sailor, which explained the pirate outfit. He played the piano and sang his shanties when Mermista, the annoyed woman who was the other owner, allowed it (she rarely did). 

Mermista talked about how she had inherited the pub from her parents a few months ago.

“Figures, I would inherit a pub that was falling apart.” She motioned to the slightly uneven floorboards and the parts of the building that had definitely seen better days. She also explained that Seahawk was also more of an employee, if anything. Mermista had demoted him from co-owner to employee when he almost burned the place down, as he had done to three of his ships. Mermista had no real comments on the topic of dreams, her only real dream being that Seahawk would stop being so annoying. Yet, while Mermista had seemed annoyed with Seahawk and completely indifferent to his presence, Catra and Adora could tell that there was some love buried deep under the rough exterior. 

Frosta, the younger woman with short blue hair, also talked about her dream. It turns out she was only fourteen, which didn’t come as a surprise. Frosta wanted to move to somewhere with a colder climate than Etheria and live in an ice castle. She spent a few minutes explaining how she planned on building it. Adora didn’t really understand the science behind it, but she listened intently.

Netossa and Spinnerella were a married couple. Netossa had dark skin and white hair, and Spinnerella had pink hair and slightly purple skin. They talked about their dreams of moving to the countryside after they’ve traveled the world. Netossa also apologized for restraining Catra, who accepted the apology.

Adora had talked about her dream, seeing the lanterns. She talked about how she wasn’t allowed to leave her tower, and how she had only watched the lights from afar for her entire life. She answered questions about what it was like living in a tower by herself for so long, to which she told everyone about how she painted and sewed and cooked. 

Adora seemed to notice that Catra wasn’t participating in the conversation as much as everyone else, and so she asked about her dream.

“I don’t really have any.” Catra answered, not enjoying the feeling of dozens of eyes watching her, awaiting some grand answer that never came. 

“Don’t be silly!” Perfuma replied. “Everyone has a dream!”

Catra hesitated for a moment. She never thought much about what she wanted life to be, she really only saw things for what they were. She was nothing but a petty thief, she didn’t get to have dreams.

“I guess…” Catra looked down at the table, nervously wringing her hands. “Maybe to move to an island far away. Surrounded by money, of course.”

The group was silent for the first time in half an hour. Everyone else had dreams of traveling or seeing lanterns or something great like that. None of them said they dreamed about something as irrelevant as money.

“That’s a stupid dream.” Frosta said, her voice cutting through the silence.

“Frosta!” Perfuma, Spinnerella, and Netossa had all yelled at once. They quickly apologized for Frosta’s behavior as Perfuma talked to Frosta about how it isn’t nice for her to call other people’s dreams stupid. 

Catra didn’t really care, she knew her dream was stupid. She was just glad the group began talking again so she didn’t have to suffer through any more awkward silence. Catra looked down at her hands again, not caring to make eye contact with anyone at the table. Her sulking was interrupted when she felt a warm hand on hers. 

  
Catra looked up to find Adora giving her that  _ look _ again. This time, Catra didn’t mind the effect it had on her. She basked in the feeling of Adora looking at her like that, all soft eyes and smiles. She felt Adora’s thumb rub slow circles on her palm. 

“For what it's worth,” Adora said softly, her voice barely above a whisper. “I think that's a great dream.”

For a moment, no one else was in the room. There was no sound of side conversations or laughter. There was just Catra and Adora. And for once, Catra didn’t care that her face was reddened with blush. She was thankful for it just this once, when the same blush colored Adora’s face to match the pink of the flowers in her hair. Adora was all red and her hand was slightly sweaty from the heat of the summer afternoon. She smelled like sweat and grass and sunshine. She was perfect. This was perfect.

Catra opened her mouth to say something when a loud bang interrupted her.

The two jumped at the sound of the door slamming open, abruptly pulling them out of their moment. The man from earlier, the one Perfuma had told to get the palace guards, was now standing in the doorway as he tried to catch his breath. 

“I found the guards.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh oh,,,
> 
> i hope the catra/flynn name changes aren't too confusing, they only change when the perspective does but it only happens for one more chapter so 
> 
> prepare for angst im warning u now :)
> 
> until next week!


	5. dancing with our hands tied

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello and apologies for the late upload! this chapter was so much longer than i expected (and editing is just a bitch lol)
> 
> but anyways, this is one of my favorite chapters and i absolutely loved writing it.
> 
> the title is from the song dancing with our hands tied by taylor swift, which i am 99% sure she wrote about catradora but anyways
> 
> i hope y'all enjoy! :)

Catra didn’t have time to think before her and Adora were being pushed behind the bar by Seahawk and Mermista.

After the man had come in saying he found the guards, it took a moment for the guards to actually appear at the door. When they did, it was… not what Catra was expecting.

Two figures, a man and a woman, entered the pub. The first thing Catra noticed was the woman’s hair - a bright shade of pink and purple. It almost looked to be sparkling from the way the light was hitting it. The two were dressed in the typical guard uniforms, but the woman had a crescent moon badge on her chest, probably indicating she was of a higher rank. The man’s uniform was…  _ cropped _ ? A thin strip of dark brown skin was visible between the white pants and shirt. Catra had never seen that before.

She couldn’t get a better look before she was forced to duck under the counter as the guards made their way into the building. Luckily, they didn’t seem to suspect that there was anyone under there. Catra tried to focus on steadying her breathing, being careful to make sure that she wasn’t loud enough for the guards to hear. She remembered the woman next to her.

Adora looked terrified. Her expression was distant, her breathing was ragged. Both of her hands were running through a piece of hair over and over again, probably some nervous tic. Catra wanted to tell her it was okay. That they were going to be fine. 

But before Catra could say anything, one of the guards spoke.

“Perfuma?”

Catra slowly looked over the counter of the bar to see Perfuma rushing over to the woman and wrapping her up into a hug. The guard seemed surprised, but returned the gesture just the same. 

“Glimmer! It’s been so long!” Perfuma’s voice was filled with nothing but genuine excitement. Catra watched as Perfuma looked at the badge on the guard’s chest before looking back up. 

“Commander, huh?” 

“Angella promoted me last week.” Glimmer tried and failed to hide her excitement about the promotion before schooling her face back to careful indifference. She cleared her throat, attempting a more serious and commanding approach.

“I hate to cut this short but we’re looking for someone. There wouldn’t be a Flynn Ryder in this pub, would there?” Glimmer walked past Perfuma, the other guard in tow.

Catra slipped back under the counter again as Glimmer began to patrol the area. She held her breath as she heard the footsteps near her, and let it out once she heard them walk away.

Adora was still very much a mess, and Catra couldn’t help but feel that it was her fault. Adora had defended her and probably saved her life, and she was repaid by hiding under a bar and forcing herself to breathe quietly so the two would stay hidden. Catra almost reached out to touch her shoulder, to reassure her that this would be okay.

  
But comfort wasn’t Catra’s thing. It never was. And today, Adora showed her more physical contact than she had had in the last five years of her life alone. It would have been overwhelming if there wasn’t something about Adora that was so grounding. Her presence was enough to calm Catra, which was saying a lot. Catra hated affection, she hated physical contact. She hated any feeling that made her open and weak and vulnerable. Yet, she had accepted Adora’s attempts at comfort, and even made a few in return. Even if they had only known each other for less than a day, it didn’t feel that awkward. It felt like coming home after a long trip. It felt like meeting an old friend who you haven’t spoken with in years. 

But comfort wasn’t Catra’s thing, and so she retracted the hand she had barely reached out. 

While she was lost in the battle in her mind over whether to reach out to Adora or not, she missed the absence of footsteps. By the time she looked over to see a pair of white and gold guard boots on the floor next to her, it was too late. 

“Hey, Flynn.”

______________________________

  
  


Shadow Weaver pulled her cloak tighter as she walked through the woods.

There was a rustling from the bushes in front of her, but it was probably just one of the small, annoying animals that lingered in the Whispering Woods. They wouldn’t be a problem, as long as they didn’t get in her way. 

It was a three day journey, but Weaver was prepared to make it two. Even though Adora had packed enough food for a week, being the over-planner that she was. 

Weaver had only agreed because it was a better idea than those foolish dreams. Adora was ready to risk everything to see the lanterns. And Weaver was not about to risk losing her flower. 

The rustling in the bushes continued, and it no longer sounded like it was coming from a small animal. Weaver couldn’t pretend it was harmless anymore, she knew this feeling.

Shadow Weaver knew a lot. She knew the secret of the magical flower before anyone else. She knew where the lost princess was. She knew that something was wrong.

  
She continued walking towards the rustling. 

Expecting a person or an animal of sorts, she was surprised when there was nothing but a boulder. Oddly enough, the noise had stopped and a strange silence settled over the clearing.

Suddenly, there was a small movement behind the boulder and the source of the rustling had jumped out from behind the rock, as if expecting Weaver to be a predator. 

A horse.

A large, white horse had jumped out from behind the boulder, prepared for attack. It stood down for a moment, seeing that Shadow Weaver was no hunter. Weaver let out a sigh of relief that it wasn’t a person or a bear or whatever other mysterious beings that haunted this forest. She stepped forward, trying to get a closer look at the animal. 

Something about the horse was off. It was equipped with a saddle and a small pack, yet there seemed to be no rider around. On the front of the animal, a golden plate glistened in the small rays of sunlight that had managed to poke their way through the trees above. Weaver noticed the design on the plate, a circle surrounded by small waves of flame; a sun.

This wasn’t  _ just _ a horse.

This was a  _ palace horse. _

_ Without a rider. _

“Adora!” 

If there was a wild palace horse wandering around the woods, there was no telling the other chaos happening around the kingdom. Yes, Weaver often manipulated the truth of the world. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t dangerous.

Her first thought was the stolen princess, her Adora. Was she safe? Was she in her tower? Did someone know about her?

Shadow Weaver ran so fast, it looked as if she was floating. She ducked under branches and weaved through the curves in the path. It was ten minutes later that she found the clearing and pushed the curtain of leaves aside.

The tower looked unchanged, but Shadow Weaver was not one to be relieved so quickly.

“Adora!” She yelled from the base of the tower. When the familiar bunch of golden hair didn’t come cascading down in response, she rushed to the back of the tower.

Weaver pulled apart vines and bricks, revealing a small door. She kicked it open and began scaling the small staircase in the center of the tower. She pushed up a floor tile from above and lifted herself into the main room of the tower.

She was met with silence. No sound of Adora rushing down the stairs. No paints left out, the artist having forgotten and run off to do something else. No sign of Adora.

“Adora?” Weaver called out once more.

  
She checked the kitchen. There was no sign of her. Looking in the bathroom and her own bedroom and any other hiding place she could think of, Adora wasn’t there. The last place she could check was Adora’s room. Weaver ran up the stairs to find no one there to greet her. She ran up to the bed and threw the covers back, only to be met with a bunch of pillows and not the familiar locks of golden hair. She checked the tower once more only to be met with the same answer.

Adora wasn’t there.

______________________________

  
  


Catra slowly lifted her gaze to find the guard with pink and purple hair standing right above her. At this point, she had already exhausted all of her options. This bar was small. If they were going to walk out of the door or even shift their position, they would be noticed. There was no clear escape route. There was no way for Catra to get out of this. 

Not yet, at least.

Catra gathered whatever courage she had left and lifted herself off of the ground. Standing up to face the guard, she was delighted to find that she was about an inch or two taller than the other woman.

“Fine, you got me.” Catra held out her arms in mockery of being handcuffed, the sarcasm coating her voice to mask any fear. 

If these truly were her last moments before being arrested and punished for her crimes, she was going to have fun with it. This guard was named  _ Glimmer.  _ She had pink and purple hair and was besties with Perfuma. It was really hard for Catra to take her seriously. Not to mention, something was off about the two guards.

It was strange enough that this guard even bothered to greet her, most of them would’ve just immediately handcuffed her and taken her away. Most of them were serious, they didn’t waste time on pleasantries. That, and the man wearing the crop top was looking at Catra, almost pouting. It looked as if he wanted to apologize for doing his job, that he felt bad about arresting her. 

Catra looked around at the patrons in the bar. Perfuma was basically whisper-shouting at the man who found the guards, obviously upset. Mermista was not wearing her usual bored expression, but rather a more nervous and concerned one that matched the man next to her. Frosta, Spinnerella, and Netossa were anxiously watching from a table in the back. 

Catra thought about Adora.

While she hated being caught and facing the consequences, it was probably better if Catra was arrested now. Adora could go see the lanterns with Spinnerella or Netossa - or any of the other people in this bar that adored her. Adora wouldn’t have to worry about walking around the kingdom with a wanted criminal, holding her breath every time a guard rounded the corner. She didn’t deserve that. 

The guard looked confused for a moment before a grin spread across her face and she began to reach for her cuffs.

“Angella will be so excited to hear about-”

“Wait!”

Catra turned her head around to find Adora was now standing up, armed and ready with her frying pan.

_ She is such an idiot. _

The guard…. what was her name again? Sparkles? Shimmer? Catra couldn’t remember. But the guard stopped reaching for the cuffs, surprised to see there was another woman hiding behind the counter.

“Y- You can’t arrest her.” Adora’s voice was shaky, and she was visibly trembling.

The guard gave a look to the man next to her as if to say ‘ _ What do I do?’ _ . She turned back to face Adora.

“Why can’t I?” The guard asked. She was visibly confused at Adora’s outburst, and seemed genuinely interested in the answer. 

“Because she’s taking me to see the lanterns!” Adora yelled, immediately retracting once she realised she had raised her voice. She probably wasn’t used to confrontation, let alone with palace guards.

“You want me to…. not arrest this criminal because….” The guard looked between Catra and Adora in confusion. “You want to see the lanterns?”

Adora faltered, lowering the frying pan in her arms just a bit. The guards didn’t seem phased by her choice of weapon. 

“Well… yea.” Adora’s voice was quieter, almost as if she expected a different answer. She cleared her throat and tried again, pointing her frying pan at Perfuma. “Well you know Perfuma! We are friends with Perfuma too, can you let Flynn go just this once?”

Perfuma abruptly stopped waving her arms in distress as she practically scolded the man, turning to look at Adora and then the guards. She noticeably closed her eyes and gave a deep breath before appearing much calmer than she was ten seconds ago. She gave a nervous smile and nodded awkwardly. 

The guards shared a look again. The man was pouting, as if Adora’s little speech was really getting to him. He seemed like a very emotional and sympathetic person. Catra could practically see the heart on his sleeve. She wondered why he chose to be a guard.

“Glimmer,” Perfuma had moved up towards the scene and put a hand on the guard’s shoulder. “Adora  _ is _ my friend. She has dreamed her whole life about seeing these lanterns! You have dreams too, Glimmer. And it’s  _ really _ not nice to get in the way of other people’s dreams and-”

“Perfuma!” Glimmer raised her voice, cutting off Perfuma. The interruption seemed more for Glimmer’s sake, as if to pull herself out of the speech and back to reality. “This is my job. I have to arrest her.”

Catra didn’t have much time. She tried to think of anything that would save her, and most importantly, Adora. She thought about just running out the door, or tackling the guards. None of which were good options. If she had to talk her way out of this, so be it. She had always found a way out of things,  _ always _ . This time would be no exception.

“And you can.”

Perfuma, Glimmer, and Adora all shot Catra the same confused look at the same exact time. Glimmer stepped towards Catra, looking her up and down.

“What?”

“You can arrest me.” Catra said plainly. Glimmer looked confused, as if she knew there was something more to it. She was right. “But only if I can take her to see the lanterns first.”

Glimmer looked back at Perfuma, and then at the other guard. Catra had been on the run for years. If Glimmer was  _ so _ excited to catch her, she would jump at this deal. The other guard had walked up from behind Glimmer, putting an arm on her shoulder. The two turned around and started frantically whispering to each other. Catra couldn’t make out exactly what they were saying, but it was obvious they weren’t agreeing. The man turned back around to look at Catra.

“Fine.” He said. Glimmer looked absolutely furious next to him.

“I know you’re up to something.” Glimmer walked towards Catra, pointing a finger at her. “And you won’t get away with it.”

“Listen, Sparkles,” Glimmer looked like she was about to kill Catra. “We’ll be in the kingdom, so it’ll be easy to catch me. I really can’t pull anything if I’m right in front of your face, can I?”

She could, but that wasn’t the point.

Glimmer’s face remained the same, reddened with anger. Catra knew she didn’t trust her one bit, and she would quite literally be on her tail if she let them go. She looked to the guard next to her, who’s name Catra had overheard while Glimmer had tried and failed to keep her voice down a few seconds ago. The guard, Bow, spoke again. He looked much more calm and collected, although the same could not be said about his partner. His voice was firm and steady. 

“We have already sent for backup, so more guards are going to be on their way soon.” Bow explained, looking at Glimmer and then back to Adora and Catra.“So you should really go before we change our minds.”

Catra nodded and took Adora’s hand. She started to head for the door when Seahawk ran out in front of her to stop her.

“You can’t go out that way.” He whispered.

“Why not?” Catra snapped.

“Well, it’s not as adventurous!” Seahawk pumped his fist in the air, raising his voice on the last part. He looked around to see he had drawn attention to himself and began again more quietly. “There also might be a secret passage.”

Seahawk nodded to Mermista, and she pulled back one of the handles on the tap part of the bar. Seahawk led Catra and Adora behind the counter to see what the lever triggered. A small section of the floor that was painted with a yellow duck was lowering, revealing a tunnel underneath the building.

Catra immediately started sliding down but looked back up to thank Mermista and Seahawk.

“Yeah, whatever.” Mermista said in her usual sarcastic tone. “Like, don’t mention it.”

“Anything for adventure!” Seahawk yelled.

“Literally  _ do not _ mention it.” Mermista side-eyed Seahawk, hoping he would get the hint to shut up.

Adora wrapped them both in a hug, to Mermista’s surprise.

“Thank you so much.” She offered. Mermista let on a small smile. Adora turned to the rest of the patrons in the bar and waved goodbye. “I hope I will see you all soon!”

Adora turned around and finally slid down the entrance to the secret passageway, looking back at her new friends once more before falling into step besides Catra. 

______________________________

The tunnel was dark, cold, and damp. 

Catra tried to keep track of the time that had passed since her and Adora left the pub. They were about ten minutes into their journey, both of them remaining silent the entire way. The only noise filling the space was the occasional dripping of water from the ceiling. 

Catra held the lantern out, illuminating the space between her and the blonde. She didn’t attempt a conversation with Adora. At this point, it was better that they get to the kingdom and do what they needed to do and leave. Adora didn’t deserve the anxiety that came with traveling with a felon. She didn’t deserve to put herself in harm’s way just so Catra wasn’t arrested. She didn’t deserve to worry if there were guards following them or not. Adora was shivering at this point, which she didn’t deserve either. If Catra hadn’t taken the risk of going into the Snuggly Duckling, they wouldn’t even be in this situation right now. 

Here in the dark and staleness of the earth-packed tunnel, Catra promised she wouldn’t let her friendship with Adora go any further. It shouldn’t even be a friendship. Just a mutual agreement between two strangers - one who had taken the other hostage - to travel and then never speak to each other again. It was Catra’s fault, really. She let her guard down. She had taken her armor off for long enough for Adora to get beneath her skin.

But the tunnel was lonely and dark. Catra hated the dark. And she was also sure she had just passed a skeleton a bit ago, and she was not too thrilled about it.

“Well, I didn’t know you had that in you back there.”

_ Great way to thank this woman for saving your life, Catra. _

“I know!” Adora was visibly thrilled with her work in the tavern. She realised she raised her voice and cleared her throat before starting again, more nonchalant. “I know.”

Catra smiled. She was such a dork.

“So, Flynn,” Adora moved closer to Catra’s side, almost making her drop the lantern. “Where are you from?”

It was a harmless question, just not in Catra’s case. Of course she could answer the question truthfully, and tell Adora the sob story that was her life. But she decided it probably wasn’t a good idea.

“Woah, princess.” Catra laughed humorlessly. “I don’t do backstories.”

Adora's face fell and her step slowed a bit. She obviously expected Catra to let her in, unknowing of the promise Catra had just made to herself moments before. Catra felt a tinge of guilt at shutting down Adora’s attempt at conversation just because she didn’t want to talk about her past. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to ask about hers?

“I am becoming  _ very _ interested in yours though.”

Adora looked back up with a small smile, but there was no happiness to it. She looked… sad?

“Well, you can’t ask about the hair.”

Catra nodded.

“And you also can’t ask about the mother,”

“Well, obviously.”

Adora laughed. Catra felt more comfortable now that they were slipping back into their usual back and forth rhythm. 

“Am I allowed to ask about the frog?” She gestured to the lump of green sitting on Adora’s shoulder.

“Chameleon!” Adora put her hand to her chest in a gesture of fake offense. “Pascal is a chameleon!”

Catra shrugged.

“Eh, same difference.” Pascal stuck his tongue out at her, to which Catra returned the gesture.

The two laughed and continued walking. Adora tried to explain the difference between frogs and chameleons. After five minutes of explanation, Catra still didn’t get it and continued to refer to Pascal as anything from a frog to a small ogre, earning her a teasing shove from Adora. 

Catra realised that this was her opportunity to ask anything. Adora seemed interested in her life. And while she couldn’t tell Adora much about herself, she could learn about Adora. Which meant asking the one question that had lingered in Catra’s mind the whole day.

“If you wanted to leave your tower so bad, why didn’t you do it before?”

Catra said it bluntly, and for the first time in fifteen minutes, Adora didn’t have a response. She seemed to be going back and forth in her mind about what to say, opening her mouth and closing it quite a few times. Catra felt guilty. Did she phrase the question wrong? Was she not supposed to ask that? Catra knew that she wasn’t comfortable with talking about her past. Maybe Adora was the same.

Adora had slowed down and eventually stopped. Catra turned around to face her. 

“I-” Adora’s response was cut off by a rumbling below their feet. Something was shaking the tunnel and causing some of the dirt packed into the ceiling to crumble down.

_ No,  _ Catra realized as her ears picked up the distinct sound of running and voices.  _ Not something. _

_ Someone. _

The guards caught up quicker than she thought.

Without wasting another moment, Catra grabbed Adora’s hand and  _ ran. _

______________________________

  
  


Shadow Weaver knew Adora. She knew Adora was naive and not as clever as she sometimes thought herself out to be.

That’s how Weaver came across a tiara in a pot, right out in the open of the tower. 

After that, it wasn’t hard to put the pieces together. Adora had obviously gotten a hold of this crown jewel, probably by someone on the outside. Seeing that Adora was not in the tower, she had clearly escaped. This meant that she was most likely with the person who had stolen the tiara in the first place. 

Flynn Ryder.

The most wanted criminal in all of Etheria. Her crimes over the past years had amounted to the punishment of death if caught. Weaver had heard, through words of ‘spies’ she knew in the kingdom, that Flynn had recently stolen a most precious jewel and had gotten away with it. Even before her journey was interrupted, Shadow Weaver had seen a fair deal of wanted posters with the woman’s face plastered on them. 

Not only had Adora escaped, but she was on the run with Flynn Ryder.

Adora only wanted one thing that would lead her to escape the tower; seeing the lanterns. If that was where she was heading, they couldn’t possibly be in the kingdom by now. But it was late enough that they would have had to make a stop for food or supplies.

That led Shadow Weaver to the Snuggly Duckling. 

It was a pub notorious for the run of the mill thieves and felons that occupied it. Now, not so much. When Weaver approached the pub, she noticed there were palace guards outside, holding two women in chains. 

She pulled her cloak up to hide her face and made her way over to the side of the building. It was out of sight, but close enough that she could hear the commotion by the entrance of the pub. Weaver kept her back to the side of the pub, leaning over just a bit to pick up a conversation.

“And they aren’t here?” An older woman’s voice asked.

“Yes! I’ve told you a million times, it was a false alarm.” A younger woman responded, clearly in distress.

“Why do I feel like there’s something you’re not telling me?”

“ _ Mom! _ ” The younger woman groaned.

Weaver looked out to see that the women were just inside the pub, the two criminals chained outside. She recognized the criminals as Flynn Ryder’s accomplices. They had their fair share of wanted posters, but were not nearly as infamous of felons as Flynn Ryder. If arrested, their charges would be much less than a death penalty.

The two women’s voices had become muffled, the mother appearing to be having a very stern talking to with her daughter. The younger woman huffed in annoyance and practically stomped out of the pub. She had bright pink and purple hair, and was followed by a man wearing a cropped uniform.

“Glimmer, it's fine.” The man put his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down.

“No it's not, Bow! And you know that!” Glimmer shrugged his hand off.

The two criminals, Entrapta and Scorpia, stood by silently. Entrapta seemed almost delighted that the two were arguing, seeming to carefully observe their behavior.

“I should have never let them go.” Glimmer sighed, covering her face with her hands.

“Hey,” Bow took her hands away from her face and held them. “You did the right thing.”

“But if mom ever found out she would kill me!”

_ Interesting. _

If Entrapta and Scorpia were here, Flynn Ryder wouldn’t be too far away. She was probably the false alarm in question. Weaver could only assume when Glimmer mentioned ‘letting them go’, she was talking about the thief and Adora. There was only one way to find out.

Bow had tried a few more times to comfort the woman to no avail. 

“I’m going to tell her, Bow.”

“You can’t!”

“I have to! She trusts me with this position. Plus, they’re already far enough anyways. We’ve done all we could.” Glimmer sighed as Bow wrapped her into a hug.

_ Gross. _

The two seemed oblivious to the prisoners outside, who had been surprisingly quiet throughout the whole conversation. Bow and Glimmer made their way back into the pub, the door shutting behind them.

_ Now. _

The woman with the long purple ponytails, Entrapta, had somehow gotten out of her chains. She was now helping Scorpia do the same. Apparently she had a tool belt that the guards had been foolish enough to not confiscate. Weaver watched carefully as Entrapta was helping the other woman with her handcuffs, and waited until the two were fully out of the restraints.

Shadow Weaver pulled down the hood of her cloak and stumbled out from the side of the building. Her hair had gone a bit grey since Adora’s absence, which would only work in her favor here. 

“Help!” She cried out in a voice as helpless as she could manage.

Scorpia and Entrapta turned their heads to see Weaver’s weakened appearance. They rushed over. The taller woman with white hair was the first to reach Weaver.

“Oh my goodness! Are you okay?” Her concern was genuine. 

_ Good. _

The purple haired woman was right behind her. She seemed more confused than concerned. But as long as Weaver was able to manipulate at least one of them, she could get her flower back and run that criminal in the ground for good. 

“I’m afraid I’ve lost someone, my daughter.” The worry in Shadow Weaver’s voice was not all for show. “Her name is Adora and she has long blonde hair. She was with that- that Flynn Ryder!”

The purple haired woman spoke up.

“How has this loss affected you? Have you been feeling-” She was cut off when Scorpia started vigorously shaking her head.

“Sorry, miss.” Scorpia began. “Entrapta has been really eager about her social experiments lately. It’s really cool! But, uh-”

She faltered for a moment. Weaver looked back at the pub to see that no one seemed to notice the absence of the thieves. 

“We know Flynn.” Scorpia finished, scratching the back of her neck.

“Oh, so you know where my Adora is!” Weaver knew this wasn’t the case, but the seed she had planted would grow into enough guilt for the two women to help her catch Adora. 

“Actually, we don’t.” Entrapta’s response was blunt. Shadow Weaver gave her as much side eye as she could without losing what little pity she had gained from the pair.

“We could help you though!” Scorpia tried to remain hopeful. “We were looking for Flynn, actually. So we could help you find your daughter as well!”

Shadow Weaver grinned. Perfect. Scorpia had fallen for the trap she set, Entrapta following after. These two were wanted criminals who escaped from the grasp of palace guards on the daily. Finding Adora would be child’s play.

“Let’s get started then, shall we?”

______________________________

  
  


“Flynn!” 

The two were running as fast as their legs would take them, but the guards were gaining quickly. Catra’s ears picked up the sound of heavier footsteps. The guards probably had a horse.

_ What is it with me and being chased by horses today? _

Adora was falling behind. Catra could only keep up because she was used to this. She spent her life running away from a multitude of problems. And she wasn’t going to stop now. Catra saw a light at the end of the tunnel. And no, not that kind of light. 

“There!” She pointed towards the light. Adora nodded and continued running, gaining speed now that there was a set end destination.

When the two reached the opening, they abruptly stopped once they realized they were at the edge of a cliff. The drop looked to be about seventy feet or so. Catra looked around to see if there was a bridge or anything that could get them down before the guards came. There was nothing.

_ Great.  _

“Hold this.” Before Catra could even protest, Adora promptly shoved the frying pan into her hands and gathered up her hair. She watched as Adora looped her hair around one of the ledges on the rock wall across from the cliff. Wherever they were, it was some kind of dam.

Catra started to ask what Adora was doing when she heard the footsteps get closer. She turned to see a rush of crisp white uniforms pile out into the open cliff ledge. A familiar white horse led the pack.

_ I hate that fucking horse. _

Catra didn’t recognize the man on the horse, but the woman who had jumped off behind him looked…. familiar. She had pink and purple hair, like the guard Catra had faced earlier today. But this woman was mature and older, probably Sparkle's mother or something. But as Catra began to evaluate her surroundings, the last couple of guards entered the clearing. These guards, she definitely recognized. 

Bow and Glimmer. The ones who had let her and Adora go. The ones who promised that Catra and Adora  _ wouldn’t  _ be in this situation. Obviously Catra wasn’t planning on sticking to the agreement, but she definitely wasn’t now that they had been betrayed.

One of the guards at the front lunged towards Catra.

Weapon. She needed a weapon. Catra patted herself down for daggers or smaller knives, none of which she had. She looked at the frying pan in her hand.

_ SMACK. _

Catra had knocked a guard out flat with one clean hit of the frying pan. She turned it around in her hand, checking it out.

“Frying pans, who knew?” 

More guards started coming forward, this time Catra was prepared. They might have weapons and armor and swords, but they  _ totally _ didn’t stand a chance against Catra and her frying pan. 

This should be exciting. 

Catra was getting wound up when she felt a hand grip her waist, and the next thing she knew, she was falling. She closed her eyes and screamed, thinking she somehow fell off the edge of the cliff. This was it. This was the end. Catra was going to die. She spent her life fighting off well armed guards and knights and every kind of person imaginable just to die because she fell off a cliff.

“Relax.” Catra remembered the hand on her waist. She wasn’t falling. Adora had one arm wrapped in her hair, and the other holding Catra’s waist. By the sound of her voice, Adora wasn’t relaxed. But she was steady. Her jaw was set, and her eyes were focused. Catra felt the arm around her waist tighten and she lost her breath. 

Catra was flying, with the help of Adora. Catra looked back at the guards on the ledge to see their faces and laughed at the looks of confusion and shock she got in return. This was one of the best moments of her life. 

The actual dam on the side of the cliff was held up by a wood structure of sorts, with many support beams scattered by the edge of the cliff. Catra watched as the horse promptly kicked one of the beams down for it to land on a small landing opposite of the cliff edge. A few guards rushed across the makeshift bridge.

Catra turned back just in time to see that they were getting closer and closer to the ground. She prepared to run and brace herself for landing. 

Adora seemed less prepared. She hit the ground and tripped. She would have fallen flat on her face if not for Catra’s quick reflexes. Catra reached around to grab Adora’s waist, counting on Adora’s hand on her own waist to help with most of the weight.

Catra helped Adora steady herself, neither of the women moving their hands. Bright blue eyes met Catra’s, the look accompanied by the sound of Adora’s breath hitching. 

“Thank you.” Adora breathed. She had a strange look in her eyes - relief and something else Catra couldn’t quite place. 

They stood there for a moment, too lost in each other to remember their current situation. The sound of breaking wood and rushing water snapped Catra out of it.

She looked over to see that the guards were no longer on the cliffside. Actually, she couldn’t see them at all anymore. The support beam that was kicked down by that stupid horse must’ve been important, as the dam had started to leak. The wood splintered and the support beams gave way. Catra watched in horror as the wall fell to an overwhelming wave of water. She stood there for a moment, paralyzed by fear. There was only one option.

_ Run. _

There was an opening towards the end of the small canyon. Catra had no idea what was on the other side, but it was better than drowning. The two ran for it as the water came crashing down the canyon. 

The two had almost reached the opening when there was an immense shadow looming over them. Catra turned to see that there was a huge rock formation in the middle of the canyon, among many smaller ones. Catra also saw that the big rock formation was falling. 

If they weren’t quick enough, they would be crushed. 

Catra’s lungs were burning and her legs were shaking with exhaustion. She assumed Adora felt the same way. Catra hated apologies more than anything, but she made a mental note to apologize to Adora if they made it out alive. 

Catra broke down the thin wooden barrier covering the opening. She pushed Adora in front first, following soon after. It came as a reflex, she didn’t even have to think twice. Adora had been behind, but she would’ve been better off without Catra in the first place. If only one of them were to survive, Catra wouldn’t hesitate to make sure it was Adora.

Somehow, the two had made it in the opening unscathed.

______________________________

  
  


The opening in the rock was small, cold, and cramped. It allowed for a brief moment of relief before the realization set in; they were trapped here.

When the rock fell, they had gotten lucky enough to have not gotten crushed. But they had a new issue at hand. They were now in this small cave, completely blocked in by the fallen rock. To make matters even worse, water had started rushing in through the small openings left in the entrance. 

Adora felt like she couldn’t breathe. She felt like this multiple times today. Once, when she had left her tower for the first time in her entire life. The second time when she had seen Flynn’s face for the first time. And multiple times after that when Flynn had looked at her a certain way, or held her hand in return. The most recent time had been when she had grabbed Flynn without a second thought to escape the guards. 

It had been like a reflex almost, protecting Flynn. Reaching to comfort her. Joking with her. Laughing with her. Everything about Flynn just felt right, like they were old friends who had recently reconnected. It felt natural in a way, and caused a warm feeling in Adora’s chest that she hadn’t felt before and wasn’t exactly ready to put a label on. 

Adora tried to think of that, of happier times. Like the time when she was eight and a strange chameleon had made his way into her tower. Or the time when she had learned how to paint and finished her first painting on the walls of the tower, one she had been so proud of. Like when she learned a new recipe, or stitched a flower just right.

Because right now, happier thoughts were better than her current situation.

The water was up to her ankles at this point, and showed no sign of stopping. Flynn had been looking around the small cave for an opening, an escape. She found nothing. 

Adora figured she would look too. She began prying rocks and hitting stones, hoping against all hope that something would work. Maybe she would pull a rock to find sunlight streaming in. She felt her feet splash in the water. It was cold. She started pressing her feet on the earth floor, hoping that some of the dirt would give way. Nothing happened. 

The water was up to her knees now. Flynn had resorted to climb as high as she could and try the higher rocks. She was attempting to tear away a rock when she pulled her hand away, a thin line of blood starting to form across her palm. 

“Up here!” Flynn shouted over the sound of the rushing water. She motioned to the higher ledge she was standing on, only a foot or so above the rest of the cave. Flynn held out her hand for Adora and she grabbed it. Flynn pulled her up, closing the distance between the two. 

Adora was hyper aware of everything, being this close to Flynn. She reluctantly let go of Flynn’s hand and took a step back, pressing her back against the solid rock wall. 

The water was slowly crawling up Adora’s waist, soaking the fabric of her dress. They were running out of time.

She watched as Catra dove into the water, attempting once more to try and find a way out. When she resurfaced, she was gasping for air.

It was obvious at this point that there was no way out. Adora tried to think of the time earlier that day when she had reached for Catra’s hand at their table in the Snuggly Duckling. She desperately tried to focus on the warmth that bloomed in her chest and on her cheeks, rather than the cold and cruel water that was beginning to overtake her.

She had to do something. Flynn had already tried and failed to go under water, but maybe she could give it a go.

Adora pinched her nose and took a deep breath, diving into the freezing cold water. Her body was becoming numb. She tried to make her way off the ledge and to the lower parts of the cave. She was under the water for less than ten seconds when she felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her waist and pull her up.

  
When she resurfaced and opened her eyes, Flynn was looking right back at her, firmly holding her in place with hands on her shoulders.

“You won’t find anything down there. It’s pitch black.” The usual sarcasm or mocking tones that covered Flynn’s voice had been washed away and replaced with more serious and urgent ones.

Flynn lifted a hand off of Adora’s shoulder to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. When she pulled away, her hand rested on Adora’s cheek. She leaned into the touch as hot tears flooded her eyes and streamed down her face.

“This is all my fault. I’m so sorry, Flynn.” Adora barely held back a sob. There was a pit in her stomach, a dark bottomless pit of grief and guilt that was consuming her. If she hadn’t left her tower, they wouldn’t be in this situation. If Adora hadn’t demanded that Flynn take her to the kingdom, they wouldn’t be-

“Catra.”

Adora wiped the tears from her eyes to no avail, as her hand was dripping wet. She looked up at the woman across from her to see blue and gold eyes glowing back at her. 

“What?” 

“My name is Catra.” She said. Catra let out a breath of relief, as if the secret had been a heavy weight on her chest that was just lifted. Adora cocked her head, looking at her in confusion. Catra sighed.

“I figured someone should know.” Catra shrugged, her hands staying steady on Adora’s shoulder and cheek. Her thumb had begun tracing delicate circles on Adora’s skin. Though it was freezing, Catra’s touch burned. When her hands moved, they left a trail of fire on Adora’s body.

Adora knew why Catra had told her. In a few minutes, they would be consumed by water and drowned. It didn’t matter what secrets they told now. This was the end. And if it was Adora’s last day on earth, she was happy she spent it with Catra. They had run all day to find themselves at the end of the world, and Adora couldn’t think of anyone else she would rather be with. 

Adora surged towards Catra, wrapping her arms around her. Her hug was returned in an instant, and Adora clung to her as if she was a breath of air in this deep ocean. 

Adora was fully sobbing when she felt Catra’s hand cradle her head, gently stroking her hair.

Adora was only used to someone touching her hair, brushing it or stroking it, when they wanted something from it. It was almost every week now that her mother was asking her to sing as she brushed her hair. But this gesture from Catra wasn’t cold like her mothers. It was warm. It was warm in the way only hot summer nights were, when Adora would sneak downstairs and quietly open the windows. When she was met with glowing orbs that dotted the sky and the smell of fresh air mixed with remnants of the hazelnut soup that was cooked for dinner. That was the most comforting memory Adora had, now second to this one. While she was freezing and sobbing and about to drown, she was wrapped in Catra’s arms, and somehow she had never felt better.

She felt Catra’s body tremble from the freezing cold, and sobs that she had finally decided to let out. And for that one moment, Adora cursed this beautifully cruel world for letting her find Catra, only to lose her so soon. She focused on the hand cradling her head and stroking her hair.

_ Wait. _

_ Her hair. _

That was it.

“I- I have magic hair that glows when I sing!” Adora almost screamed when she realized. How stupid she was to not have realized it earlier. 

They were in this dark cave, and she had glowing hair. They couldn’t find a way out because they couldn’t see well enough. If she managed to get her hair glowing for long enough then they could find a way out.

“You what?” Catra pulled back, looking at Adora with pure confusion and disbelief.

“I have… magic hair that glows when I sing!”

The water was up to their necks now. Adora didn’t have time to explain to Catra. She could only hope her magic hair didn’t freak her out too much. 

“Flower, gleam and glow. Let your power shine-” Adora and Catra gasped for hair as the water filled the last part of the cave. Adora shut her eyes, not used to opening them under water. She hoped and prayed that the fragment of the song she managed was enough. She opened her eyes.

The glow that filled the water had told her it worked. She smiled and looked over to Catra. The look on her face was priceless. She screamed in surprise, bubbles coming from her mouth that she soon covered once she remembered that they were under water. Adora would have laughed if they weren’t about to die two seconds ago.

Towards her right was a group of stones. They were smaller rocks, easier to move. Catra swam over to the pile and immediately began tugging and pulling away rocks as fast as her arms could. Adora swam to join her, her hair floating right in between them and lighting the way.

Light pierced through the cave as one of the rocks fell away, showing an opening. It was only a sliver of daylight and air and the outside world, but it was enough.

______________________________

  
  


Adora sat by the fire made out of whatever scraps of wood she and Catra had managed to find.

When they had escaped the cave, it let out into a river. 

_ “Really? More fucking water?” _ Catra had cursed. But they were lucky enough that right by the river was a secluded clearing where they could rest until morning. 

Adora’s clothes had dried as she sat by the fire, talking to Catra and listening to whatever she had to say. The way Catra told stories of her great adventures made Adora want to see the world even more. She wanted to see it with Catra. No matter what she was talking about, Adora was completely entranced. Currently, Catra was talking about her favorite food in the kingdom (most of which she stole). She moved her hands while trying to explain in detail what the pastries looked like and how good they were, and Adora couldn’t help but fixate on the cut on her hand. She wanted to heal the cut on her palm. Adora imagined holding Catra’s hand and wrapping her hair around it. Was the magic too much for Catra? What if she-

“Adora?”

“What?” Adora snapped out of her trance to find that Catra had gotten up.

“I said I’m going to get some more firewood, princess.” Catra laughed at Adora’s confusion. Adora smiled in return.

As she watched Catra walked away, she thought of the day it'd been. How this day had somehow felt like years, how it was more fun than Adora had had in years. 

Adora smiled as she thought of when she hit Catra with a frying pan the first time, completely unaware of the fact that that stranger would become one of her closest companions (second only to Pascal, of course).

But Adora also thought about her tower. And who she left behind. 

She thought of her mother.

Adora couldn’t even imagine going back now. She had changed so much since this morning, and her worst fear had come true. She liked the outside so much that she didn’t want to leave. 

And it wasn’t as bad as mother had said. She met nice people, like Perfuma and Mermista and Catra. Adora had made friends with so many people and held her ground more times than she could count. She understood her mother’s concern, but she couldn’t help but feel like maybe…. she lied. Maybe she was wrong about the outside world. She was certainly wrong about Adora.

A rustling from the bushes pulled Adora out of her thoughts. It was probably just another bunny. Or maybe it was a fox or the dozens of other animals she hadn’t learned about. She had yet to learn about the wonders of the Whispering Woods, after all. 

But as she turned to see the source of the noise, it wasn’t an animal. It was a cloaked figure. 

Before Adora could ask if they were lost or if they needed help, the figure removed their hood. They stepped out of the shadows, revealing their face. A face that Adora knew all too well. A face that she had been terrified of seeing again since the moment she left for the outside world.

“Hello, my flower.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to be continued...
> 
> see ya next week! ;)


	6. holy ground

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've said this before and i'll say it again but thank you all so much for the kudos and comments,, they mean so much to me and im glad y'all are enjoying this as much as i am :)
> 
> this chapter was originally supposed to be the lantern scene but i added in a few extra moments between catra and adora and eventually it got too long so i just decided that chapter would be next week so i hope thats okay lol
> 
> the title of this chapter is from holy ground by taylor swift because she wrote that song about catradora so
> 
> enjoy :)
> 
> (also very mild cw for manipulation - shadow weaver has a big part in the beginning of this chapter and there is manipulation because,, well, its shadow weaver but its nothing too graphic or heavy)

“Mother?” Adora felt like she couldn’t breathe. She struggled to form a coherent thought and actually come up with a response for a moment. Her mother looked almost concerned as she rushed towards Adora and wrapped her into a hug.

“Oh my goodness, are you alright?” The way her mother immediately began stroking her hair wasn’t lost on Adora.

She didn’t return the hug at first. Her brain was still short circuiting as she remembered that she could in fact move her arms, even if they felt extremely heavy. She wrapped her arms around her mother in return, but did not fully give in to the hug.

“Yes, mother.” Adora pulled away. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Weaver stroked her cheek and searched her face, checking for injuries that weren’t there. “Did she hurt you?”

Catra. Her mother was asking if Catra had hurt her. Adora felt a white hot flash of anger at the fact that her mother would even think that. The same Catra that didn’t lay a hand on her even after being knocked out twice and held hostage. The same Catra that had promised to take her to the kingdom so she could finally live her dream. The same Catra that clung to Adora as the water filled the cave, comforting her in what they both thought would be their last moments. Adora scowled.

“No, she didn’t hurt me.” She bit out. It was harsher that she intended, but Adora couldn’t say that she regretted it. She watched as her mother stepped back, her eyes widening with shock.

“Are you… are you defending a wanted criminal? A thief?”

“Yes.” Because whether Weaver was ready to face it or not, Catra was more than just some petty thief. She was more than that to Adora. Catra was funny and caring and kind (when she wanted to be). Whatever image of some mean and coldhearted criminal that Weaver had created in her mind was not true at all.

Adora felt sick as she watched her mother’s face go from shock to flat out anger.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’d grown to like her.” Weaver’s words were coated in complete disgust, as if the thought of Adora liking anyone else but her left a bitter taste in her mouth.

“And what if I did?” Adora crossed her arms to hide her shaking hands. This was the first time she had ever dared to stand up to her mother. Her entire life had been filled with biting back responses and polite nods. If she was being honest, she was absolutely terrified. But Adora would not back down now.

“Then you’re a fool.” Her mother’s eyes narrowed as she evaluated Adora. Adora, who had the nerve to stand up for herself. Adora, who wasn’t as naive as Weaver wanted her to be.

Adora was many things. She was clumsy and awkward and creative. She cared a lot about other people, maybe too much sometimes. She was a great painter and a not-so-great seamstress.

But she was not a fool.

“Adora,” Weaver relaxed her features as much as she could manage. But it looked too forced, too like she was trying to hide a much uglier emotion. She reached a hand out to cup Adora’s cheek. “Come home. You don’t know what you’re doing, you-”

“No.”

“No?” Weaver retracted the hand from Adora’s cheek, giving up the gesture of comfort all together. She gave a humorless laugh. “Oh, so Adora knows best now? Is that how it is?

Adora backed up towards the fire. She was happy here with Catra, with her new friends. She was excited to be in the outside world and going to see the lanterns. Adora loved meeting new people and just being outside. It was the most free she had ever felt. And yet, the smallest part of her desperately wished she could go back to the oblivious person she was this morning. So oblivious that she didn’t recognize when her own mother was manipulating her, or trying to get Adora to do something for her own benefit. Adora had been happy. It was a happiness tainted with the empty feeling of wanting something she couldn’t have, but it was happiness nonetheless. 

Ignorance is bliss, after all. 

And standing here, facing her mother whose hair had gone far grey than she ever let it go before, Adora wanted to run into her arms. She wanted her mother to hug her, to tell her that it was okay. But that’s not what her mother would do. She was playing one of her stupid mind games right now. She was setting traps and waiting for Adora to fall into them. But this time, Adora knew better.

Before Adora could say anything to defend herself, her mother reached into a small satchel that was previously hidden underneath her cloak and pulled something out. Something Adora recognized.

The weird jewelry, the thing she had found in Catra’s satchel when she had first broken into the tower.

“How did you find that?” Adora’s voice was mostly breath as she failed to hide her surprise.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t know?” Weaver laughed. “Honestly, Adora. I’m not stupid.”

_ And I’m not either _ .

“Don’t let her fool you. This,” Weaver motioned to the jewel in her hand. “Is why she’s here. Don’t believe me?”

Her mother put the jewel back into the satchel and threw it at Adora. 

“Give it back to her. Watch how fast she’ll leave you.”

Adora stood there, holding the satchel to her chest as she watched her mother turn and walk away. She felt broken. Like someone had ripped her heart out of her chest and only gave her half of it back. Her mother was supposed to love her. And right now, in that moment, it… it didn’t feel like love. And if it was, it was conditional. Adora realized that her mother loved her when she listened. She loved her when Adora let her use her hair. She loved her when she was obedient. Love wasn’t supposed to be like that.

There was a rustling from the words that pulled Adora out of her spiraling thoughts. Catra. She had gone to get firewood, conveniently missing the whole scene with Adora and her mother.

Adora knew she should come clean and tell her the truth. The only thing Catra had really kept from Adora was her real name, which was understandable. 

Catra deserved to know that Adora had her satchel. But Adora was scared. She was scared that once Catra had her satchel back, she wouldn’t want to be with Adora anymore. And Adora couldn’t stand the thought of losing the one person that actually seemed to care. She couldn’t stand her mother being right about this.

Adora was so overwhelmed with these new realizations about her mother that she didn’t have the time to properly think this out. As the rustling grew closer, she rushed to hide the satchel behind the wooden log she had been sitting on.

______________________________

  
  


With way more wood than needed, Catra headed back to the little camp she and Adora had set up. Catra had decided it was probably best to start a fire so they wouldn’t have to sleep in soaking wet clothes. Adora agreed and they began collecting wood in the forest next to the clearing.

This time going out into the woods, Catra was alone. She liked sitting by the fire with Adora, but it seemed they both needed some time to themselves. It had been a bit awkward since the whole…. cave thing. But being that close to death can make people do weird things. Or at least Catra let herself think so.

Once Adora looked up from her place by the fire to see Catra heading towards the camp and bearing way too much wood, she ran over to help her with some of the logs. 

As they wordlessly started setting some of the wood down and throwing more into the fire, Catra noticed something was off. Besides the pain in her hand and the fact that in the span of a day, she let this stranger closer than she had let anyone else in years. Something about Adora was off.

She was visibly shaken, although Catra had no idea what could have happened in the small amount of time it took her to collect wood. Maybe it took longer than she thought, with the cut on her hand and all.

As she sat next to Adora, she noticed that the blonde was fidgeting. Her expression was distant, as if her mind was in another dimension at the moment. She had also been silent the entire time it took Catra to get back and settled, so something was obviously very wrong.

“Hey,” Adora jumped at the sound of Catra’s voice. Catra reached out to touch Adora’s shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. “Are you okay?”

Adora took a moment to answer. She stopped trembling a bit under Catra’s touch and gave a small nod in response. Adora seemed more calm than before, but something was very obviously not okay.

Catra decided not to push it and pulled her hand away. She winced in pain at the sudden movement of her palm, seeming to forget about the cut there.

Adora noticed Catra’s reaction and the hiss that involuntarily escaped her throat as she pulled her hand away. As Catra lay out her hand to examine it, Adora caught sight of the cut on her palm.

“Don’t-” Adora hesitated for a moment. “Don’t freak out okay?”

“Why would I freak out?” Catra was about to ask again when Adora didn’t answer, but stopped when she noticed Adora taking a section of her hair and gathering it up in her hand.

“My hair doesn’t just glow.” Adora’s voice was barely above a whisper as she finally met Catra’s eyes.

Adora reached for her hand, Catra nodding to give the okay. The blonde wordlessly began to wrap her hair around Catra’s injured hand. The hair wasn’t wrapped too tightly, but just secure enough that it would hold.

“Well, you’re being strangely cryptic as you wrap your magic hair around my injured hand.” Catra joked, not knowing how else to approach the fact that Adora had magical hair that glowed when she sang. 

“Do you trust me?” Adora’s voice was shaky as she finished wrapping her hair around Catra’s hand. 

“Yes.” Catra didn’t hesitate with her answer. She trusted few people, and maybe she didn’t completely trust Adora yet, but she had saved her life multiple times today. That had to count for something.

Adora closed her other hand over Catra’s palm, completely encasing the injured hand. Adora closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She began singing. 

“ _ Flower, gleam and glow, _

_ Let your power shine.” _

Catra was  _ so _ glad that Adora’s eyes were closed or else she would have watched as Catra practically gaped at her, unable to hide her surprise. Adora’s voice was beautiful. It was soft and quiet and shaky, but it was perfect. The soft melody and quietness of Adora’s voice was a stark contrast to when she had basically screamed the song earlier that day. Catra would have laughed at the difference if she wasn’t so captivated by the woman in front of her.

“ _ Make the clock reverse, _

_ Bring back what once was mine.” _

Catra was so caught up in Adora that she almost completely missed the glowing hair around her. Starting at her scalp, Adora’s hair had started to glow. The bright golden color flowed down the length of Adora’s hair, only growing brighter as she sang.

_ “Heal what has been hurt, _

_ Change the fates’ design.” _

The glow had now reached Catra’s hand. It felt weird at first. Her hand was no longer in pain, for starters. It now felt warm and tingly, like it was in a weird position for too long and fell asleep. Catra reluctantly tore her eyes from Adora to catch a glimpse of the brilliant golden warmth encompassing her hand.

_ “Save what has been lost, _

_ Bring back what once was mine.” _

Catra was surrounded by magic.  _ Magic, _ as in the kind you read about in stories. The kind people dream about, but never think possible. Catra should be shocked. She should be terrified or scared or wonderstruck. And yet, she could only think about Adora.

All this magic and glowing hair, and she was only mesmerized by the woman in front of her.

Adora opened her eyes, immediately finding Catra’s. She looked more calm than she did earlier, more focused. Adora smiled as she sang the last line of the song.

_ “What once was mine.” _

As the song finished and the singing stopped, Adora slowly unwrapped her hair from Catra’s hand. Catra was still desperately trying to drag herself out of the singing induced trance she was in a few moments ago when she looked down at her hand.

The cut on Catra’s palm had completely disappeared. There wasn’t even a ghost of a scar on her skin. There was no sign there had been an injury there at all. She slowly turned her hand back and forth, examining it with equal parts awe and horror. 

“Please don’t freak out!” Adora blurted, noticing Catra was on the verge of screaming.

_ You just sang a special song and healed my hand with your magic glowing hair, why would I freak out? _

“I’m not freaking out! Are you freaking out? I’m not!” Catra’s voice was strained as she kept reexamining her hand to find that it looked the same way it did before. 

“Has your hair just always done that?” Catra knew she needed to distract herself, she really didn’t want to make Adora uncomfortable by freaking out about something as silly as hair.

“I guess so.” Adora ran her hands through her hair. She looked like she was going to continue, but stopped herself. She looked lost and confused, but quietly spoke up. “My- my mother said that when I was a baby people tried to cut it. But once it’s cut, it loses its power and never grows back.”

Adora brushed her hair to the side, leaving a small brown piece of hair left sticking out. They sat in silence for a moment, Catra finally calming down enough after trying to convince herself that this was perfectly normal. She was about to attempt to start a conversation when Adora beat her to it.

“So… Flynn Ryder?” Adora waited, hoping Catra would pick up on what she was trying to ask and tell her the story of Flynn Ryder.

Adora was so open with Catra. She was loud and nice and beautiful and a complete dork. But she was so painfully honest. If she didn’t verbalize her feelings, she showed them in a different way. She had said quite a few things about her mother, even after telling Catra she wouldn’t talk about her. Adora had also explained the story of her hair after Catra asked, despite telling Catra that she couldn’t ask about it. Now it was Catra’s turn.

“Well it's kind of a long story, princess.” Catra joked, laughing as Adora scooted closer to show that she was all ears.

And so, Catra dove head first into a story she hadn’t told anyone in years.

“There was this book.” Catra smiled at the memory of the worn cover and torn pages. “It was called  _ The Tales of Flynn Ryder. _ She was this great pirate who went on great adventures. She had everything she wanted, she could go anywhere she wanted to go.”

Catra faltered for a moment as she realized how hard it was to talk about this memory.

“I was- I had nothing, growing up. Just another orphan with no future.” Catra didn’t want to throw herself a pity party. She didn’t want Adora’s sympathy. Instead, she quickly summarized the rest of the story. “So, I changed my name. I started going by Flynn Ryder in hopes I would be just like her some day.”

But being a thief and a criminal was not who the great Flynn Ryder was. That was who Catra was. Catra who wasn’t a great pirate and she most definitely did not go on great adventures. She never had what she wanted, and when she did, it slipped right from her grasp.

Catra realized that it was silent after her story. She understood that it was probably a hard topic to talk about, but it was strange that Adora didn’t have any response.. She looked up to see that the blonde was laughing.

“Are you laughing at me?” Of course Adora was laughing at her. Catra’s dreams had always been stupid. Adora probably thought it was hilarious that Catra ever thought she could be as great as Flynn Ryder.

But when Catra asked, unable to hide the hurt in her voice, Adora stopped laughing immediately.

“No, of course not!” Adora frantically hurried to defend herself.

Catra would have laughed at how the blonde’s eyes went wide and her face turned red if she had not been wounded the moment before.

“It’s just,” Adora gave a dopey smile, looking down at her hands in her lap. “I did the same thing.”

Catra’s ears shot up immediately. Adora looked up at Catra and giggled.

“When I was younger, there was this book I was absolutely obsessed with.” Adora smiled at the memory. “Mother had given it to me for my eighth birthday. It was called  _ She-Ra and the Princesses of Power _ .”

Adora made a dramatic hand motion as she said the title, eliciting a giggle from both herself and Catra.

“I was obsessed with She-Ra. I just thought she was so cool, running around with her sword and everything. All my eight year old self wanted was to be her.” Adora sighed. “So, I would run around the tower all day with a stick I had the nerve to call a sword. I would tie a blanket around my neck in place of a cape and jump off of every ledge I could find, pretending I was in the middle of some great adventure. I was so loud, and I would only respond to my mother if she called me She-Ra.”

Catra looked at Adora, sharing a brief moment of silence before they doubled over with laughter. Catra imagined what little Adora looked like, running around and screaming and fighting. It was so random, but it was so Adora.    
  


When they had finally managed to catch their breaths and wipe the tears from their eyes, Catra felt the most at peace than she had in years. Catra savored the feeling of having someone who could relate to her, who understood completely. 

Catra hated being open and vulnerable, but something about Adora just made her come undone. And, god, was it nice to have someone care this much. It was nice to have someone listen so intently, no matter what Catra had to say. While Catra was mean and dark and cold, Adora was the human embodiment of sunshine. She was so perfect. And Catra had no idea what to do with perfect.

She looked over to Adora, who was currently yawning. Catra realized how late it must be.

“Come on princess, we should get to bed.” Adora nodded, slow and tired.

The two gathered leaves to set up a place comfortable enough to sleep. They had managed to collect enough leaves to create two soft paddings to cover the grass.

Adora was the first to settle in, looking as tired as she was. This was a big day for her, after all.

Catra put out the fire and followed soon after. She lay down on her side, turned to face Adora. The woman across from her was half asleep and somehow already drooling. Catra laughed.

“Goodnight, Adora.” She didn’t expect a response from the blonde, who was practically asleep at this point. But as she turned to face away from the woman, her ears picked up the softest mumbling.

“Goodnight, Catra.”

______________________________

  
  


Adora awoke to a scream.

She had thought that for a brief moment it was something of her imagination, that it was a fragment of a dream that slipped into reality as she woke up. Just as she was about to go back to sleep, she heard it again.

“HELP!”

Adora jumped to her feet, looking at the sad excuse for a bed next to her to confirm her suspicions. The screaming was from Catra. Catra was in danger.

“CATRA?” Adora yelled at the top of her lungs, desperately hoping this was some kind of sick joke.

“ADORA! OVER HERE!” Came the raspy shout in response. Adora ran to follow the sound of the voice, darting in between trees and branches and not caring if she got scratched in the process. Adora kept running, with only the occasional shout or rustling letting her know if she was getting hotter or colder. 

When Adora neared the location that the yelling had been coming from… it was not what she expected, to say the least.

The clearing was seemingly normal. A good amount of open field and some rocks scattered throughout.

What was not normal was the sight of Catra squaring up with a horse.

Adora watched as the horse dragged Catra by the boot. It was the strangest thing she had ever seen. By the sound of Catra’s voice, it seemed like she had gotten arrested or killed. But no, Catra was perfectly fine (with the exception of being dragged by a horse and all). She was currently laying on the field, a mess of limbs flailing around as she tried to get her boot back from the horse.

“Catra?” Adora did her best to hold back her laughter as she entered the clearing. 

“ADORA! HELP! PLEASE!” Catra was so dramatic sometimes.

Adora made her way over to the scene as Catra got up and continued trying to grab her boot from the horse’s mouth. The horse only pulled away and faked her out, much to Catra’s frustration. 

Catra and the horse turned their heads at the same time to see Adora approach, the two of them seeming to forget the fight they were having just a moment earlier. 

Adora knew that the horse wasn’t being too nice right now, but she was just so in awe of the creature. She remembered reading about them in one of the books her mother gave her when she was a kid. Adora had been so excited about the animal that she talked of nothing else for almost a week.

_ “Adora, they’re terribly boring creatures. Very dirty too.” _ Weaver had said. She was not thrilled with Adora’s endless rants on horses, but it never stopped Adora from admiring them. She thought they were the most magical creatures she had ever heard of. And never in her wildest dreams did Adora think she would ever come this close to one.

“Drop the boot.” Adora pointed at the shoe in the horse's mouth, waiting for it to follow her instructions. “Drop it!”

The horse complied, leaving the boot on the ground. Adora saw Catra grab the boot from the corner of her eye, watching the woman make a sound of disgust at the leftover slobber on it.

“Good boy!” The horse’s ears perked up at Adora’s praise. She felt bad praising the horse that was just dragging Catra through the field a few seconds ago, but he was just so cute!

Adora very cautiously reached out her hand towards the horse, hoping to pet him. She closed her eyes for a moment, scared the horse would get scared or run away. Instead, she was answered with the soft feeling of fur on her hand as the horse moved his head to meet her hand.

_ This is the best day of my life. _

Adora stood in complete awe as the horse allowed her to pet him. She made her way up his head, petting the soft fur down his neck.

“Are… are you petting the thing that’s been trying to kill me?” Catra was standing off to the side, confusion and disgust seeping into her voice. Adora smiled.

“Catra! He was so not trying to kill you. Besides, he’s nothing but a big sweetheart!” Adora noticed the golden plate on the front of the horse, engraved in the design of a golden sun. In fancy font, it read  _ Swift Wind _ . “Isn’t that right, Swift Wind?”

Adora gave the horse a hug, surprised when Swift Wind returned the gesture as much as he could by lowering his head against her back. She looked over to see Catra with her arms crossed, rolling her eyes at the two.

“Well if you and your new best friend are done here,” Catra looked completely unamused. “We should get going.”

Adora nodded in agreement. She didn’t know how far away the kingdom was, but she didn’t want to risk getting there too late.

Adora started walking, Swift Wind in tow.

“Oh no.” Catra shook her head. “This is not happening.”

Adora pouted and made puppy dog eyes at Catra, silently pleading for her to allow the horse to come with them. She loved Swift Wind already, she didn’t want to just leave him all alone. She hugged Swift Wind and waited until Catra finally relented.

“Fine.” She sighed and rolled her eyes. Adora jumped in excitement to hug the horse. Catra no longer looked annoyed at the idea of the horse joining them. Instead, Adora watched as she turned around to hide the grin that was spreading across her face. 

______________________________

  
  


The kingdom was like nothing Adora had ever seen.

When she was younger, Adora would read stories about princesses and their princes. The stories often took place in some wondrous kingdom with a beautiful castle or a magical forest of sorts. The sight in front of her was straight out of a story book. 

Catra, Adora, and Swift Wind reached the bridge that would serve as their way into the kingdom. The island on the other side was decorated in small shops and homes with a gorgeous castle towering over it all. It looked like a painting - too beautiful to be real.

The colors on the island were vibrant, as if the sun had adjusted itself to make sure it shone on the buildings and greenery at the perfect angle. The bottom half of the isle was colored in lush greens and earth tones. The pastel colors and intricate shapes of the castle popped out against the sky. Adora desperately tried to take in the beauty of the island all at once, committing it to memory. Adora decided that if she had to go home, the first thing she would do was paint the image right before her. 

The walk into the kingdom was not as exciting. As it turns out, having seventy feet of hair in a place full of people running around isn’t exactly ideal.

Catra helped gather up Adora’s hair to keep people from stepping on it. She pointed to a group of young girls who were braiding each other's hair by a fountain in the town center. When Catra asked if they would mind braiding Adora’s hair, the girls were happy to oblige.

It took the girls about ten minutes between the three of them. They carefully swept Adora’s hair back in a braid held in place by dozens of flowers and pins. When Adora saw herself in the reflection of the fountain, she was in awe of the woman staring back at her. Managing all this hair was never an easy task, and over the years Adora had done nothing more than brush it. She had all the time of day to do whatever she wanted, but somehow never had the energy to put her hair up like this.

Adora thanked the girls for doing her hair. They let her know that if she ever needed it braided again, she would know where to find them. Adora laughed and graciously accepted their offer before heading back to where Catra, Swift Wind, and Pascal were sitting.

As Catra watched Adora walk back over, she looked at her as if Adora was the first person she had ever seen. Catra’s eyes went wide and Adora could have sworn her face grew a few shades darker. She seemed wonderstruck. When a few moments passed without Catra saying anything, Adora started to get nervous. Did she have something on her face? Did Catra not like her hair?

Catra cleared her throat. “It- It, um, looks great.”

Adora smiled as she reached out her hand towards Catra. The woman accepted, letting Adora lead her through the village. They had a lot of time to kill before seeing the lanterns, and they would have to be very careful to avoid any guards. But that didn’t mean they had to sit around and do nothing all day.

______________________________

The library in the village was filled with more books than Adora could have ever imagined. After finding the building, which was tucked in the more quiet part of town, Adora and Catra had decided that hiding out here would be their best bet.

Adora didn’t mind at all. In her tower, she had no more than three books at a time. Her mother would sometimes venture to the library in the kingdom to borrow books, but it was a rare occurrence. Adora remembered being devastated when her mother had returned  _ She-Ra and the Princesses of Power _ . When they found the library, she decided it was only right to avenge her childhood self.

While Catra picked out a random book and curled up in a chair towards the back of the library, Adora decided she would ask the librarian if she knew where to find her favorite story.

The librarian gave her a strange look, as if it was odd for an eighteen year old to ask for a children’s book. And it might have been, but Adora couldn’t bring herself to care. The woman directed her to the children’s section and Adora began her search. 

Within five minutes, she found it. Adora immediately recognized the red binding of the book, worn out from years of being loved. She ran her fingers along the cover and traced the image of the woman with the sword she had looked up to the most in her childhood. A warm feeling filled her chest, as if she had reunited with an old friend. Adora walked back to sit with Catra, holding the book close to her chest.

Even though Catra had chosen a large green velvet chair that was big enough to be a couch, she still seemed surprised when Adora settled in right next to her.

“What do you have there?” Catra asked, pointing to the book in Adora’s hands. The blonde pulled it away from her chest and turned the cover towards Catra.

“ _ The _ She-Ra, huh? Where’d you find that?” Catra might have been trying to sound sarcastic or joke around, but she seemed genuinely interested in Adora’s response.

Adora told her she had found it in the children’s section, and Catra laughed when Adora had told her about the weird look the librarian had given her. Catra gave a short summary of the book she had picked out, explaining why she had chosen the adventurous tale. It turns out Catra’s favorite genre was anything but romance.

The rest of their afternoon was spent here, in this little corner of the world. Tucked away in the back of the library with the sunlight streaming through the window to warm the space around them, there was no place Adora would rather be. The two women talked and laughed for hours. Adora read the story of  _ She-Ra _ to Catra, stopping every so often to explain the scenes she would reenact (much to Catra’s amusement).   
  
It was so nice to have someone listen to what Adora had to say. Her mother had tolerated her stories at best, and became incredibly annoyed when Adora’s imagination had run wild.

But Catra wasn’t like that.

Catra had sat for hours as Adora talked about her favorite stories and characters. She listened intently to Adora as she read her favorite book. She made comments and jokes. She paid attention. Catra never got bored, or asked Adora to stop when she had been talking for too long. Catra sat there and cared about anything and everything Adora had to say. It was so strange to have someone care like that. It made this new feeling of warmth bloom in Adora’s chest; a feeling she had no idea what to do with.

Some time in the afternoon, the two had drifted off to sleep. They were a mess of tangled limbs and smiling faces. It wasn’t until Catra hadn’t made a comment or a joke in a while that Adora noticed the sleeping woman next to her. Catra had a small smile on her face, as if she thought of a joke but fell asleep before she got the chance to tell it. Adora breathed in the scent of the woman next to her, cinnamon and sweat. She moved Catra’s hair out of her face, tucking it behind the woman’s ear. Adora joined her in sleep soon after.

______________________________

  
  


When Catra awoke, her neck hurt like hell. She looked around, trying to remember when and where she had fallen asleep. But when she saw the sight of the sleeping woman up next to her, she forgot about her pain for a moment. The rays of sun streaming in from the window illuminated the few stray strands of hair on the top of Adora’s head, resembling a halo. Catra watched the blonde’s chest rise and fall as she began to feel herself slipping back into blissful unconsciousness. 

Catra shook her head, reminding herself that the lanterns would not wait for them. Reluctantly, she woke Adora up and the two set out into town once more.

It was late afternoon, less than an hour before sunset. Since leaving the library, Catra and Adora had snuck around the village as they made their way closer to the water. They quickly figured out where guard patrols had been stationed and avoided those areas as much as possible. The two women passed shops and groups of children playing in the street as they walked to the marina.

“What’s that?” Catra turned to see that Adora had stopped walking. The blonde was currently looking at a mural on the side of one of the larger buildings in town.

The mural depicted an image of the royal family. The king stood to the right, his queen right next to him holding the most beloved princess. The princess had the same grey-blue eyes as her father that were filled with the wonder only a child could look at the world with. All three of them were smiling, frozen in this perfect moment in time.

“That’s the royal family. And that,” Catra had walked back to Adora and now pointed at the baby depicted in the mural that seemed to be drawing all of Adora’s focus. “Is the lost princess.”

“The lost princess?” Adora turned to look at Catra and tilted her head in confusion.

“She was stolen from the castle when she was a baby. That’s why they light the lanterns every year on her birthday, in hopes that she’ll come home.” Catra shrugged. Mostly everyone in Etheria knew the story by now. It was weird that Adora didn’t since she had been so desperate to see the lanterns, but Catra didn’t think anything of it.

Adora nodded her head slightly, looking back at the mural before falling into step besides Catra.

______________________________

  
  


The town center was crowded. But Catra had found that the best way to hide was out in the open.

Catra had realized it would probably be best if she got enough food to last her and Adora the rest of the night. That was how she found herself in line at the least busiest food stand with a loaf of bread and two apples in hand as Adora waited at a shop nearby.

Catra spent the time waiting by looking around and seeing how much the center had changed. She didn’t go to the kingdom much, with being a wanted criminal and all. She noticed that some of the shops had been repainted in brighter colors, with a few new stands set up. This time of year was always busiest as people from kingdoms all over had traveled here to see the spectacle of the floating lanterns. 

There was a small band off to the left, playing music for passing villagers. Catra heard the music pick up, going faster and faster. Some sort of circle - a dance - had formed directly in the center of the surrounding shops and stands. People held hands and clapped to the beat, looping arms together and spinning around. At the center of it all was Adora.

The blonde was pulling people in from the sidelines, urging them to join the dance. Adora locked eyes with Catra and began to make her way over.

She held her hand out towards Catra.

“Woah there, princess. I don’t dance.” A mischievous grin spread across Adora’s face as she grabbed Catra’s hand and pulled her into the circle.

“You do now!”

More people had begun to join in and Catra was separated from Adora almost as soon as she entered the circle. The poor bread and fruit that was in her hand a moment before was left abandoned at the stand before she could even pay for it.

Catra was now spinning around and letting herself be led around the circle by her partner. She was terrible at dancing and hated almost every minute of it. She let herself fall into the pattern of spinning around, changing partners, and then repeating. 

The beat of her heart sped up to match the beat of the music, her feet hitting the pavement in a lousy attempt to match the rhythm. She tried to look for Adora, but couldn’t clearly make anything out in this blur of hair and dresses.

The speed of the dance began to catch up with her as she grew more dizzy. For the past few minutes she had been dancing, she had yet to be partnered with Adora. She grew nervous wondering if any of the strangers she was dancing with had recognized her. 

The next thing she knew, Catra was being spun to her new dance partner as the song came to an end. She shut her eyes tight, hoping she wouldn’t crash into her next partner.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, another holding her left hand. Catra’s hand found its way around the stranger’s waist. Catra was relieved to find that she not only crashed into her next partner, but the dance was over. She opened her eyes to see Adora staring right back at her.

There was barely any distance between the two, but neither of them seemed to mind. Adora looked up at Catra and smiled.

Catra was relieved that the red color of her cheeks could be very easily blamed on the sudden dancing and definitely not the sight of Adora smiling at her and the fact that their foreheads were almost touching.

She watched as the woman in front of her desperately tried to catch her breath. Catra felt breathless too, but it had nothing to do with the dancing. 

They stood like that for what felt like forever. Catra  _ could _ stand here forever, with Adora’s hand in hers and her hand wrapped around Adora’s waist. She would be fine dancing again, if it meant she could dance with Adora.

In that moment, Catra realized there was something more. There was something between her and Adora that she had most definitely noticed before, and most definitely tried to ignore. It was something beneath the surface, a feeling that she was unable to put a name to. 

All Catra knew was that she liked holding Adora’s hand. She liked the feeling of being vulnerable, as long as she was vulnerable with Adora. Catra wanted to travel the world, she wanted to see the beautiful sights that most people would only ever get to dream of seeing. And yet, she would be perfectly content if she spent the rest of her life looking into Adora’s grey-blue eyes. 

There was simply no other feeling like touching Adora. Catra would dance forever if it meant she could dance with Adora. Because Catra liked Adora, she liked her a lot.

And maybe it was more than ‘like’, but Catra wouldn’t admit that just yet.

The two were so caught up in each other and so oblivious to the world around them that they almost missed the shout from nearby.

“To the boats!”

It was time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you see me writing these soft catra/adora scenes because the story is about to get really dark and angsty,, no u dont
> 
> also this fic was originally supposed to be 10 chapters but it may be one or two more than that,, we shall see
> 
> im so excited for the lantern scene i'll see y'all next week ;)


	7. at last i see the light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welcome back and apologies for the late upload! i had originally planned to take a break the week of christmas, but it just ended up being this week with how busy i was.
> 
> (i also may or may not have added *something* to this chapter to make up for that lol)
> 
> enjoy :)

The first time Adora saw the lights was by accident.

It was the night of her fifth birthday. The day had been amazing. Her mother had brought back a few little gifts and made this new food called hazelnut soup for dinner, which Adora absolutely loved. She read Adora a bedtime story and tucked her into bed. Everything was perfect.

Until Adora was awoken by a terrible nightmare. She didn’t have them often, but when she did, they were very scary. Visions of shadows and monsters danced across the room long after she had woken up. Any slight creak of the floor only confirmed Adora’s suspicions of the monsters living under her bed.

Adora threw off the covers and ran down the stairs as quickly as her five year old legs could take her. She intended to tell her mom of the nightmare and make her stay up with her until she could fall asleep again. 

But as it turns out, Weaver had accidentally left the window open that night. A mistake that she would regret for the next thirteen years.

Adora stopped dead in her tracks, completely forgetting her mission of waking her mother up. She was surprised to find that instead of the endless darkness she had expected, there was a faint glow coming from the open window. Adora’s eyes widened with wonder at the small, bright orbs that dotted the night sky. 

The orbs varied in sizes, some higher in the sky than others. The lights stood out against the dark sky with their burning shades of yellows and oranges. Of all the times Adora looked out this window, she had never seen anything like this.

The strange lights in the sky seemed to be floating, flying through the night right in front of Adora’s eyes.

The five year old watching in awe by the window desperately tried to comprehend what these things were and how they were floating.

Maybe they were fairies, magical creatures that could fly and glowed with pixie dust. Adora had read about them in one of the books she had gotten for her birthday. She wondered if there was a magical land outside that the fairies had to fly to and that was the reason for their presence in the sky.

As Adora stood by the window, she wondered if the lights were for her. Maybe someone out there knew it was her birthday and they had done this to celebrate. Maybe fairies came to visit on special occasions like today.

Adora didn’t tell her mother about the lights she saw that night, for fear that she would get mad that Adora was up so late. The next night when Adora snuck downstairs once again to look out the window, she was disappointed to find that the floating lights weren’t there anymore. 

For the next year, Adora wondered when the lights would come back. She drew the orbs from memory and tried to explain to her mother that they were, in fact, not stars. 

When six year old Adora went to look out the window on the night of her birthday, she found the lights again. Just as she found them every year after that.

______________________________

  
  


Adora had been dreaming about the lights for the last thirteen years. She thought of  _ what _ they could be, or  _ where _ they could be. But she never thought of  _ how _ she would see them.

Her answer was a small wooden boat that Catra had found in the marina. It looked older and more worn than the rest of the boats, but floated all the same.

The lanterns were something that Adora looked forward to every year. There was no excitement quite like staying up past your bedtime and watching those brilliant orbs light up the night sky.

But now, sitting in the small boat as Catra rowed out into the water, she was nervous. Adora was nervous and scared and anxious, despite being on the cusp of living out her greatest dream. 

What if she didn’t like the lights? What if they weren’t what she expected? 

_ What if she spent all this time dreaming for nothing? _

“You okay there, princess?” Adora jumped at the sound of Catra’s voice. She looked to see gold and blue eyes staring at her, one eyebrow raised in concern. 

“Yeah. Just lost in thought, I guess.” Adora had been so lost in thought that she had not even noticed Catra had stopped rowing. They were now situated a good distance away from the kingdom, right in the middle of the sea that separated the two islands. The boat rocked steadily as slow, small waves rippled the water. 

Adora needed to do something. Usually when she was nervous, she would run around the tower or bake or paint or do  _ something  _ that required movement. But that wasn’t exactly an option when you were in the middle of an ocean.

Adora didn’t want to concern Catra anymore than she already had. Catra had gone above and beyond what Adora had expected from the stranger that broke into her tower. Catra was rough around the edges, yes. But there was more than that to her. The past two days had been overwhelming for Adora, and that was not lost on Catra. She always made sure Adora was okay. She trusted Adora enough to talk about things she obviously hadn’t opened up about in a long time. Catra was protective and funny and sweet (sometimes). And she was more than Adora could’ve hoped for.

“You’re not a good liar, you know.” Catra gave a small humorless laugh. Adora looked back over to see a genuine look of concern on the woman’s face. She could at least tell Catra part of the truth.

“I guess….” Adora’s voice was shaky and quiet. “I’m terrified.”

“Why?” Catra responded immediately, letting the worry seep into her voice before regaining her composure.

“What if it's not everything I dreamed it would be?” It was something Adora had been scared of since she left her tower, even if she hadn’t let herself admit it. This moment was all she had dreamed about for the majority of her life, she couldn’t even fathom the disappointment if it wasn’t what she imagined it would be. 

Adora looked down at her hands, avoiding Catra’s reaction. She would probably be upset or even angry, and Adora completely understood. Catra had dragged her out here and risked her life just so Adora could see these lights, after all. If Adora was disappointed, it would’ve all been for nothing.

Adora’s spiraling thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of a warm hand on hers. She met Catra’s eyes, gold and blue, and instantly felt more grounded.

Catra took Adora’s hand in hers, carefully but purposefully.

“It will be.” Catra’s voice was delicate. “And you can always find a new dream.”

Adora gave a small smile. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Catra held her hand for a moment more before awkwardly letting it go. Adora missed the warmth, not just from Catra holding her hand, but because it was  _ Catra _ holding her hand. Adora looked back out to the water. She went to run her hands through her hair before realizing that was no longer possible with her current hairdo. 

Instead, Adora began picking the flowers out of her hair. Most of them were for decoration, but she picked out the smallest ones just in case.

  
  
Eventually, Catra offered to hold a small pile of them while Adora placed them in the water and watched them float away. It was peaceful, delicately placing the flowers in the cold water and watching the small waves carry them away from the boat. That and Catra’s touch had been enough to calm her down. Adora noticed her breathing becoming more even as she felt the rhythm of the boat rock back and forth. 

Everything felt steady and peaceful.

Until Adora saw the first lantern.

______________________________

  
  


She hadn’t noticed it at first. Looking into the reflection of the water, she saw a small glow floating up and away from the castle. Catra had told her the lanterns were released once the king and queen had released theirs, so there was no doubt in her mind that this was it.

Adora jumped up from the side of the boat, rushing over to the front to get a better view. She heard a yelp from Catra as she almost tipped the small boat over, but Adora couldn’t bring herself to care about anything but the lights starting to illuminate the sky.

It was a ripple effect, like when she splashed the water and the small waves carried out far away from the initial contact. Once the first lantern was released, others started to follow. The isle had many layers of streets and shops, and the glow followed all the way to the bottom of the isle.

Adora was enchanted. She was entranced and wonderstruck and completely in awe. 

And to think she had the nerve to wonder if this would be worth it.

A feeling of warmth bloomed in her chest as she watched the lights fill the air. They dotted the night sky like brilliant, bold strokes of some magnificent painting. Adora had foolishly thought that watching the lights from her tower was amazing, but it didn’t even come close to this.

Adora found that she was physically unable to take her eyes away from the sight. It was as if someone had cast a spell on her, one that made her unable to think about anything else but the lanterns lights in front of her. 

Looking around the water, she noticed the other ships were also setting off lanterns as well.

That was when she had her first coherent thought since seeing the first lantern.

_ How did they get lanterns? Could I get- _

Adora’s thinking was interrupted by the sound of Catra clearing her throat. She came back to reality and regained control of her body just in time to turn around and see Catra holding two lanterns - one for Adora and one for herself.

Adora felt the tears threatening to fall down her face. She was so overwhelmed, but in the absolute best way. Adora thought that simply watching everyone set off their lanterns was enough. She didn’t realize until now just how much she wanted to set off a lantern as well, or how much she wanted to do it  _ with _ Catra.

And how much she wanted  _ Catra _ .

There was a brief moment of clarity in coming back to reality. She didn’t know the feeling before. Adora didn’t know why she was so drawn to Catra, or why she always wanted to be close to her. She didn’t know what the feeling in her chest was, or why it only happened around Catra. 

But she knew now.

Adora sat down on the small wooden bench opposite Catra.

It was now or never.

She pulled out the satchel she had previously hidden under the seat. 

When she had been woken up that morning by the sound of Catra’s screams, Adora didn’t think about anything else but making sure she was okay.

“ _ Wait!” _ Adora had yelled, watching the look of confusion spread across Catra’s face. “ _ I- um. I saw a flower back at the camp I forgot to pick. I’m just gonna go get that real quick.” _ Adora’s excuse was not too great. She was not a good liar or even a decent actress. But Catra slowly nodded, confused but believing Adora’s excuse.

Swift Wind followed her back to the camp, allowing Adora to slip the satchel in the carrier bag attached to his saddle.

Before they had gotten on the boats and left Swift Wind on the docks (with a huge bag of apples that Catra totally did  _ not _ steal), Adora slipped the satchel from the bag and under a seat in the boat.

Catra hadn’t noticed, as she was too preoccupied by her ongoing feud with the horse.

But now, Catra definitely noticed. Her eyes widened as she saw Adora hold out the satchel.  _ Her _ satchel.

“I should’ve given this to you a long time ago.” Adora wanted to say more than that. She wanted to apologize for holding this against Catra, and everything she had been put through the past two days. But she had so much to say and no idea how to say it, and the words just jumbled up in her brain. “I guess…. I guess I was scared. But I’m not so scared anymore, if that makes sense.”

Sometime during that sentence Adora had looked down, unable to look Catra right in the eye. 

Until she felt Catra’s hand on hers once more.

Adora looked up to see Catra smiling softly. Her eyes were gentle, and Adora immediately melted under her gaze.

“It’s starting to.” Catra used her hand to gently lower the satchel onto the floor of the boat, completely disregarding it in favor of the woman in front of her. Once upon a time, that satchel held her biggest accomplishment, and what she thought would be her greatest adventure. 

But,  _ god _ , was she wrong. 

Catra handed Adora one of the lanterns.

Together, they lifted them up to the sky. Adora’s heart soared higher than the first lantern that had been set off that night. She watched as her and Catra’s lanterns intertwined as they floated up to join the dozens of others glowing in the sky.

Adora knew magic. She  _ was  _ magic. But this…. this was a completely different kind of magic. 

It was a feeling so powerful and overwhelming in its intensity that it took her breath away. It was magic in the way that time stopped when Catra touched her, or how much she had come to care about someone so new in her life.

It was something Adora had known all along. When she started falling, she never stopped. Adora had protected her heart for so long, but now willingly gave it to Catra without a doubt in her mind. 

By the way Catra looked at her now, Adora’s emotions were probably written all over her face. And for once, Adora let them be.

Catra reached for both of her hands. Adora felt her skin burn up at the sudden contact, but she wouldn’t trade it for the world.

In the past two days, Catra had become such a big part of Adora’s world. Of course, knocking someone out with a frying pan upon your first meeting is not exactly romance book material, but it was one of the most important parts of Adora’s life. It was important because it was how she met Catra.

Two puzzle pieces finally falling into place. Two souls whose destinies finally intertwined.

Adora watched as Catra started to lean in, realizing that she was leaning forward as well. 

Catra’s face was bathed in the warm glow of the lanterns surrounding them. Adora realized that she had not only dreamed about the lights, but she had dreamed of  _ this. _

Adora liked the outside world so much she couldn’t even imagine going back to her tower now. She liked  _ Catra _ so much she couldn’t imagine going back now. And there was no going back. Not to the tower, or to the almost-friendship that Catra and Adora had before.

Adora should’ve been scared. She should’ve been terrified. She had been warned about strangers, and about the dangers of letting yourself be vulnerable. Adora had spent her life accepting the fact that she would always be alone. All she ever had was her mother and Pascal. Eventually, even the stories weren’t enough to keep her company. 

And it all fell apart. Right here, as Catra held her hands and they breathed each other's air, it fell apart. All expectations of romance, all warnings of being open, and the idea that Catra was no more than a friend.

Catra brought her hand up to tuck a piece of hair behind Adora’s ear, letting her hand rest on her cheek. She closed the distance.

Adora felt like she was glowing. She was the lanterns in the sky above them. She was burning brighter than the sun.

The kiss was not what Adora had expected, it was  _ better _ than what she had expected. Adora had been nervous that she would be bad at kissing or she wouldn’t get the moves right, but it all melted away at the contact.

Catra’s lips fit on Adora’s as if they were made for each other. And, she supposed, they were. 

Adora could stay like this forever and it still wouldn’t be enough. She wanted to go on more adventures with Catra. She wanted to dance with Catra again. She wanted to fall asleep curled up next to Catra again. She wanted  _ Catra,  _ and overwhelmingly so.

The kiss ended too quickly. Adora hadn’t even gotten used to the feeling, and she already missed it. She slowly opened her eyes. Catra’s expression was not what she expected.

Catra’s eyes were wide, her features weighed down by nervousness. Her expression was distant as she looked at something just over Adora’s shoulder.

  
Adora’s heart sank. Was the kiss bad? Did Catra not feel the same way? Adora knew most of her suspicions were probably untrue, but they hurt just the same. Here she was, ready to tell Catra she wanted to do that again and forevermore, and Catra wasn’t there.

Adora turned around to see what Catra could possibly be looking at that would get her this anxious.

“Uh- I’m..” Catra stammered. “I have to take care of something real quick.”

Adora simply nodded, even though Catra wasn’t paying much attention. She had started rowing back to the island across from the kingdom. The rest of the ride was spent in silence.

______________________________

“I’ll be right back.” Catra gave a quick smile, trying and failing to hide her fear. She grabbed the satchel from the boat and left without another word, leaving Adora all alone.

Adora pulled her focus to the water splashing on the rocky shore, on the wood of the boat, on  _ anything  _ to take her mind off of the fact that Catra had just left her. It was the same kind of alone she felt when her mother left after an argument. Adora knew she hadn’t done anything wrong, but she felt guilt nonetheless. And the thoughts began to consume her.

The fogginess of the shore caused Catra to disappear from sight almost as soon as she walked away from the boat. Adora kept her eyes on the direction she left in, as if Catra would come back right then if she stared hard enough. 

She hadn’t been sitting alone for long before there was a rustling from somewhere to her right. 

“Hello, Adora.”

______________________________

  
  


Catra felt her anxiety growing with each step she took down the rocky shoreline.

The lanterns had been, well,  _ wonderful.  _ She could understand why Adora had wanted to see them so bad. It was absolutely magical, and Catra would live in that moment forever if she could.

Catra would risk her life a thousand times over if it meant she got to see Adora like that again. She looked at the lanterns like they held all the wonders of the world. The reflection of the lights made her silver eyes look almost as if they were sparkling.

Catra realized it when Adora caught sight of the first lantern.

Adora almost tipped the boat over trying to get to the front side. These lanterns weren’t just lights to her - they were _ hope _ . Hope that she would one day leave her tower to see the wondrous lanterns in person. Hope that she would get to find other dreams after this one.

Catra didn’t dream. She  _ wanted _ a lot of things, or  _ used  _ to want them. She used to want to steal a tiara to prove herself as the best thief this kingdom had ever seen. 

Now, the only reason Catra was glad she stole the tiara was because it led her to meeting Adora. 

But if Catra was allowed one dream, it would be Adora. 

She realized that she wanted Adora. She wanted Adora like nothing else she had ever wanted before.

There was simply nothing else like her. There was nothing like dancing with Adora, or waking up next to her. There was nothing like the way Adora looked at Catra.

And it just  _ clicked _ . Catra realized it as the lanterns began to fill the sky.

It was want, yes. But also a much greater feeling, a bigger word that Catra wasn’t ready to put to that feeling just yet. All while these glorious orbs graced the sky, her attention was on Adora and the way she looked at the lanterns. And how Catra wanted Adora to look at  _ her _ like that.

And when Adora turned around, she did. She saw the lanterns in Catra’s hand, but she was looking at  _ Catra. _

It only built up from there. Catra knew it was quick, she knew that Adora was still so new in her life. Catra should’ve known better than to give so much of herself to Adora so quickly, but she couldn’t control it anymore. She could ignore her feelings all she wanted, but that didn’t change the fact that they were there and they were  _ real. _

The kiss was ethereal.

It felt like coming home, like Catra was put on this earth just to find Adora and she finally had. And Catra was falling. She was falling down and down and there was no end in sight. It was a dangerous feeling, to want someone this much. 

But she kissed Adora just the same. And Adora kissed her back.

Catra felt complete. For so long, she felt lost, like there was a missing piece of her out there that she had yet to find. It felt lonely and broken. But now, it didn’t feel like that anymore.

It was a feeling that filled her chest and made her stomach flip. It made her cheeks redden and her breathing stop. 

When she pulled away, Catra was expecting to see Adora with a big dopey grin on her face. 

_ “Woah.” _ She would say.

_ “Don’t ruin it.” _ And they would laugh and bask in the joy of that moment, one where they truly found each other.

But that wasn’t what had happened at all. 

When Catra pulled away, she was the first to open her eyes. She opened them quickly out of anticipation of Adora’s reaction. But there was something over Adora’s shoulder that caught her eye and made her stomach drop.

There on the beach, partially shrouded in the fog, stood Entrapta and Scorpia. They were waving their hands, trying to get Catra’s attention.

How did they know she was here?

What  _ did _ they know?

Catra’s heart sank into a bottomless pit of dread. There was nothing inherently wrong with Entrapta and Scorpia, but  _ something _ was wrong. Catra couldn’t place it, or even recognize where the feeling came from. But she just  _ knew _ .

Entrapta and Scorpia walked back into the fog, probably waiting for Catra to follow after.

By the time Adora looked over her shoulder, the two women were gone. Catra didn’t have time to explain anything, or even come up with a good excuse. She didn’t want this moment to end like this, but it already did.

And so Catra rowed the boat back, leaving Adora all alone the moment they hit the rocky shore.

She shouldn’t have left Adora alone. The regret was eating her up inside as she made her way down the shore. It wasn’t that she wanted to leave Adora, but she needed to do this. Catra could give the tiara back to Entrapta and Scorpia and then head back to Adora and it would all be fine. She wouldn’t take that long anyways.

“Wildcat!” Scorpia wrapped Catra up in a hug before she even realized the two women were now in front of her.

  
Catra smiled despite her guilt. She was glad to see Scorpia again, even if she was pretty sure her lungs were being crushed right now.   
  


Not only did Catra feel bad about leaving Adora alone, but also for leaving Scorpia and Entrapta. She had taken the satchel so they could make a safe escape. The guards wouldn’t care if they caught the two and found no tiara.

But Scorpia and Entrapta didn’t know that.

“Hey, Scorpia.” Catra said as she was released from the hug and finally able to breathe again.

Scorpia smiled back at her, although clearly not very happy. And if Scorpia wasn’t happy, something was  _ very _ wrong.

Entrapta, on the other hand, looked like she was holding herself back. She was noticeably fidgeting, and hadn’t made eye contact with Catra since the moment she found them.

They both looked nervous but why, Catra couldn’t tell. 

Catra couldn’t tell a lot of things suddenly. All she knew was there was a sudden pain on her back side. Her vision was getting blurry, the edges turning black. Her brain was becoming mush. She tried to speak, but her mouth felt like it was full of syrup.

“I’m sorry, Wildcat.”

Catra’s world went black.

______________________________

  
  


“Mother?” Adora blinked again, as if it would change the vision of the cloaked figure in front of her.

“Are you okay?” Her mother’s voice was dripping fake concern. Adora was obviously fine, this was nothing but unnecessary dramatics. 

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Adora tried to stand her ground, but she was unable to hide her shock at her mother finding her yet again.

If Adora was being honest, she was not okay. Catra had not come right back yet and Adora had no idea where she had gone or what she was doing. 

“Why, didn’t you see?” Weaver gently tucked a piece of hair behind Adora’s ear.

“Did I see what?” Adora felt her heart sink in her chest. Her mother knew something she didn’t, and the very thought of it made her feel sick. She had to remind herself to breathe. 

Weaver gave a wicked grin and put her hands on Adora’s shoulders. She turned her around.

Adora didn’t see it at first. But when she did, her world fell apart.

Through the fog, Adora could see a small boat slowly making its way across the water to the kingdom on the opposite side. She didn’t think anything of it at first, but something on the boat shone in the moonlight. When she saw the ears and the familiar silhouette, she knew who it was.

_ Catra. _

What was Catra doing? Surely if she was going back to the kingdom she would’ve told Adora. It didn’t make sense. Adora wracked her brain for an answer - for  _ something _ . Nothing came.

“What? Did you think she would stay after you gave the satchel back?” Weaver’s words barely registered in her mind. All she could think about was Catra. 

Catra left her.

No, that couldn’t be right. When Catra saw the satchel in Adora’s hand, she immediately dismissed it. If she didn’t care about it then, why would she care about it now? It wasn’t possible.  _ This _ wasn’t possible. This wasn’t Catra. 

“That can’t be right I-” But it was already too late. Catra had the satchel back. Adora could see the faint glint of the tiara on the boat as it caught the moonlight. Catra left Adora and took the satchel with her. Adora could deny it all she wanted, but there was no mistaking what had just happened.

When her mother wrapped her into a hug, she accepted it this time. Adora felt so  _ stupid.  _ She was so naive to think she had everything figured out, or to think she found someone who actually liked her. Her mother was right. She had been all along.

Adora melted into the embrace. She was lost and confused and  _ terrified _ . And no matter what she thought of her mother yesterday, Adora needed her more than anything right now. 

“I’m so sorry, mother.” Adora felt the hot tears begin to stream down her face. 

“It’s okay, my flower.” Weaver pulled away, gently wiping the tears streaming down Adora’s face. “Let’s get you home.”

Adora nodded slowly, beginning to walk alongside her mother. She turned back one last time to see Catra. Adora felt her heart shatter as she was forced to confront the reality of it all. She looked back at the woman she thought she might…. but never mind that now. 

With one last tear-blurred glance at Catra, Adora turned around and followed her mother home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they're so clueless it hurts
> 
> see ya next week ;)


	8. the lost princess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welcome back!
> 
> // cw for mentions of execution/hanging/stabbing - nothing too graphic.
> 
> for new years, i will be taking a little break from writing so expect an update around the 10th :)
> 
> this chapter is just a lot of angst... u have been warned
> 
> enjoy!!

Catra awoke slowly, still trying to tear her mind out of the unconscious haze of sleep.

She didn’t know where she was or how she’d even gotten there. All she knew was that her head was pounding and there was a rocking from beneath her. She blinked furiously, desperately trying to clear the fogginess shrouding her mind.

Catra went to move her hands. They didn’t budge. She looked down to see that they were tied to something.

_ No _ .

Not  _ something _ . Her hands had been tied to a wooden steering wheel with something else tied in the rope. The tiara.

_ Adora. _

Adora wasn’t there. Wherever Catra was, she was alone. She racked her brain for  _ anything _ to figure out how she’d gotten here. All she could remember was seeing the lights and kissing Adora and….  _ Scorpia and Entrapta. _

That was where the memories stopped. Everything else was dark and blurry, shrouded in the same fog that covered the shoreline.

Catra couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. Her only thoughts came in the mantra of “ _ Adora, Adora, Adora” _ because Catra had just done the one thing she promised herself she would never do. She left Adora.

She looked ahead to see the kingdom coming into view. The boat moved slowly, piloted solely by the wind and the slight movement she could afford her hands. 

Catra didn’t realize what was happening. But when she did, it was too late.

Scorpia and Entrapta had set her up. She went back to give them the tiara and they had knocked her unconscious for long enough to tie her to this boat and sail her back to the kingdom. They weren’t there to help or hear Catra out. They were turning her in.

There was no other way around it -  _ Catra was going to die _ . That was the punishment for her crimes. It didn’t matter that Catra had always found a way to get out of things before. There was no getting out of this.

As she neared the docks, some of the surrounding guards must’ve noticed her presence on the vessel. They swarmed the dock and surrounding area, waiting for the boat to get close enough so that they could pull her off and arrest her. After her arrest, the execution would follow soon after.

It felt so  _ wrong _ . Scorpia and Entrapta were not just her accomplices, they were her  _ friends _ . They knew about Catra’s death sentence, just like everyone else in Etheria. Scorpia wouldn’t even hurt a fly. There was no way she would set Catra up with a surprise death sentence. It wasn’t like Scorpia. It  _ wasn’t _ Scorpia.

Catra couldn’t think about it anymore. She couldn’t even think straight. She could only think about Adora.

_ Where is she? _

_ Is she okay? _

_ Did someone hurt her? _

Yes, Adora was probably better off without Catra. But now she was  _ alone _ in a world she had just entered not even  _ two days ago _ . There were dangerous people out there. People that would hurt her. And while Catra was about to meet her end, she could only worry about if Adora was okay.

Catra shut her eyes tight as the front of the boat hit the dock. She felt strong arms grip her own, pulling her up and out of the boat. She looked back to the isle, desperately searching for a trace of Adora. She found nothing.

“Wait! You don’t understand, she’s- she’s alone, she can’t-” Catra broke down before she could finish. The sobs racked her body. She was shaking, her lungs burning as she gasped for air. 

The guards didn’t care. They didn’t know the situation. All they knew was that they had just captured Flynn Ryder. Catra was nothing more than another prisoner, a token for bragging rights. The guards would throw her in a jail cell, carry her to her execution, and live out the rest of their lives without a care.

As she was half-walked, half-carried back to the holding cells, she looked back across the ocean for a final time, looking for something she knew wasn’t there. 

Through tear-blurred vision, Catra caught sight of the group of guards behind her. Specifically  _ two _ of the guards. One woman with pink hair and a man with dark skin and a cropped uniform.

______________________________

  
  


“I’ll be downstairs if you need anything, my flower.”

Weaver gave Adora a small kiss on the forehead, gathering up the basket of flowers on the bed. 

When they had gotten back to the tower, her mother insisted on getting rid of the ridiculous hairstyle. Adora didn’t even have the energy to say no. All she could do was sit by as her mother picked the flowers out one by one, unknowingly ruining one of the last pieces of Catra that Adora had left.

  
Weaver gave a sad smile before closing the curtain to Adora’s room and heading down the stairs.

Adora was completely numb. The tears had stopped coming a while ago, as did the feelings. She had never felt so  _ empty _ .

She lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. She looked up at the paintings she had once loved and felt proud of. Now, she didn’t feel anything.   
  


Her bedroom was gloomy. It was more grey and darker than Adora remembered. It just felt so  _ lonely _ .

Her mother had tried to make conversation on the way home, but Adora had been completely silent. It hurt to think. It hurt to speak. It hurt so much that eventually, it didn’t hurt at all.

Adora pulled out a small piece of cloth and held it up over her head, studying the fabric as she lay down. The golden sun stood out in bright contrast against the deep purple background. She rubbed her thumb across the cloth, willing the memories back into her mind.

_ “What is this?” _ Adora asked, questioning the piece of fabric that Catra had just slipped into her hand.

_ “It’s the kingdom’s crest,” _ Catra explained.  _ “Think of it as something to remember this day by.” _

The sun on the fabric looked familiar, as if Adora had seen it in a dream once. When Catra gave her the cloth, she couldn’t place exactly  _ why _ she felt like she’d seen it before. Adora simply pocketed the gift before continuing to follow Catra around the village.

Adora dropped her arms, holding the cloth down on her chest with a sigh. She didn’t know what to do next, or how she would even live out the rest of her days stuck in this tower. Adora had spent her life in activity-packed days, almost never giving herself a moment of rest. It was a desperate attempt to fight off boredom. She had been so full of energy, practically bouncing off the walls of the tower. Now, the only thing she had the energy for was staring at the ceiling as she lay on her bed and wonder about what could’ve been.

Adora studied the painting above her bed. The pastel pinks and purples and yellows had long since faded. Adora remembered specifically painting above her bed so she could have something to look at before she succumbed to the lull of sleep. Sometimes, she even hoped the painting would follow her into her dreams, coming to life right under her eyelids.

Adora noticed something about the painting above her. A golden sun.

She didn’t remember painting it before, or at least, not  _ purposefully _ .

But Adora didn’t do things by accident, not when it came to her paintings. Each stroke was deliberate and filled with intention. She would have never painted an image of a sun without noticing.

_ A sun. _

_ Wait. _

Adora picked up the fabric once more, holding it up to hide the painting from her sight.

The reason she felt like the sun on the cloth was familiar was because it  _ was _ . She had not only seen it before, she had  _ painted _ it before.

Adora looked back and forth between the painting and the fabric, checking and double checking to make sure there was no mistake. Every reexamination gave her the same answer.

She got up from the bed, slowly spinning around to look at the other artworks that covered her walls. 

Adora looked at the painting by her dresser.

_ A sun. _

She looked at the painting on her vanity.

_ A sun. _

The painting above the entrance to the room.

_ A sun. _

Adora felt nauseous. She went from not being able to think to not being able to stop. Her mind was swarming with thoughts, so many and so overwhelming in their intensity that her heart was racing.

_ What does this mean? _

_ How did I paint something I’ve never seen before? _

_ Why do I know the crest of a kingdom I’ve never been in until today? _

_ Am I- _

The room stopped spinning. Time stopped all together because Adora remembered.

_ Adora remembered. _

It was a distant memory, buried deep in the back of her mind. She thought of the kingdom, the crest, and the royal family. Adora had been so drawn to the mural of the king, his queen, and their lost princess.

Adora now realized why she was so drawn to the mural in the first place.

She  _ remembered _ the king and queen.

When Adora looked into the mirror, she saw the grey-blue eyes of the king staring back at her. She saw the same facial features that belonged to the queen. Looking at her reflection, she could see bits and pieces of the royal family in herself. 

They weren’t  _ just _ the royal family.

They were  _ her _ family.

And Adora…

_ Adora was the lost princess. _

______________________________

  
  


Catra sat on the floor of the dirty cell with her legs curled up into her body, her head resting on her knees. She hadn’t slept the entire night, and it had nothing to do with the state of the cell.

If her mind wouldn’t sleep, neither would she. She felt guilty for even allowing herself a moment to close her eyes. Adora was somewhere out there, alone and in danger, and Catra had the audacity to rest?

The awaiting death sentence only made matters worse. 

Catra hadn’t seen either Bow or Glimmer until last night. They hadn’t bothered to acknowledge Catra or the fact that they knew her. 

She didn’t see any guards, really. All she got was a small tray of mush and a hard loaf of bread kicked under the bars.

If Catra had any appetite before, she  _ definitely _ didn’t now after seeing the fine cuisine the kingdom had to offer their prisoners.

Catra was used to being alone. But this was just different. She sat with a desolate knowingness of the fate she was about to meet. She was about to die and she couldn’t even make sure Adora was okay.

For being so beloved, the king and queen really didn’t show any mercy on their prisoners.

Soft sunlight streamed in through the window, partially shrouded by the cloudiness of the morning. It couldn’t have been past seven at that point.

Catra had a few hours left.

She thought about the orphanage and about the tales of Flynn Ryder that started it all. She thought about She-Ra and Adora. She thought about Entrapta and Scorpia, trying to ignore the pit in her stomach that returned when she remembered their betrayal.

If Catra was going to distract herself from her ultimately end, she would do it by thinking about Adora.

  
She spent at least half an hour searching through her memories and replaying the events of the past two days. She thought of getting hit with a frying pan, the Snuggly Duckling, Mermista and Seahawk and all the other patrons, holding Adora in the cave, the fire, the lanterns. She even thought about the dance. It was the first and last time she would dance with Adora.

Catra wondered about Adora’s whereabouts.

_ Did she go back into the kingdom? _

_ Was she at the Snuggly Duckling? _

_ Did she just go home? _

For all the thinking she was doing, it was so difficult for Catra to imagine Adora going back to her tower. Surely if she went home, she wouldn’t tell her mother about her whereabouts.

_ Did that mean she would spend the rest of the days in her tower? _

Adora couldn’t possibly want that. She loved everything about the outside world so much. She loved every little detail. Catra smiled at the memory of Adora’s face lighting up at the flower stands around the kingdom. She remembered how Adora stared in awe at the chalk decorating the street, and how she completely stopped in her tracks to look at the mural of the royal family.

It was weird how Adora had been so eager to see the lanterns, despite her having no idea why they happened. She didn’t even know about the lost princess until Catra had told her.

  
It had bothered Catra since Adora asked. Something about if just seemed off. Like there was more to the question that Catra didn’t know about.

She thought about the lost princess. Something about the mural had stuck with Catra. The big, grey-blue eyes of the princess and the way the image captured her mid-laugh, surrounded by smiling parents who loved her. They had been so happy, so oblivious.

It had been eighteen years since the princess disappeared. The king and queen had to have been losing hope for the return of their daughter, yet they still lit a lantern each year.

Catra remembered the rumors that still spread around the kingdom. There was talk of the princess being a magical being, following in the footsteps of the supposed magic flower that helped to heal the pregnant queen.

Catra used to laugh at the people who thought that. Magic wasn’t real. Magic was a silly made up thing that was used to sell children’s books and profit off of the foolishness of desperate people looking for a miracle.

But after knowing Adora, Catra was the foolish one. Adora had used her glowing hair to heal Catra. Catra couldn’t deny the existence of magic after knowing someone who  _ was _ magic.

She realized it too late.

Adora.

Adora, who had the same grey-blue eyes and blonde hair as the king. Adora, who couldn’t be more than eighteen years old. Adora, who hadn’t been out of her tower or seen by anyone else in the outside world for her entire life.

_ Adora, who was the lost princess. _

______________________________

  
  


The realization tilted Adora’s world right off of its axis. Something clicked. The memories and the mural and the fact that her mother hid her from the outside world for eighteen years.

The fact that the lanterns happened _ on her birthday. _

It was no coincidence, but the reality of it all caused Adora to stumble backwards into her vanity.

“Are you alright up there, my flower?” Came her mother’s voice from downstairs.

_ No _ .

  
_ That wasn’t her mother. _

That was the woman who broke into the castle and stole Adora from her family. 

_ But why? _

Adora’s mind immediately supplied the answer.  _ Her hair. _

Weaver was after her hair and the magical benefits it possessed. It kept her youthful, and she had used it and taken the power for her own for as long as Adora could remember. 

And, hell, Weaver literally called Adora ' _ my flower _ ’.

Adora remembered Catra telling her about the flower that had healed the queen during her pregnancy, allowing her to deliver the princess safely.

The queen.

_ Her mother. _

The woman downstairs did nothing to deserve that title. She was nothing more than a thief, the very kind of people she had spent Adora’s entire life warning her about.

Adora couldn’t bare it any longer. Everything felt like it was closing in on her as the truth sank in.

She had spent her life being lied to and used by the only ‘mother’ she had ever known. She wouldn’t let Weaver take any more of her.

Adora walked over to the curtain, pulling it aside and taking no more than one step out of the room. Weaver had made her way up the stairs, stopping on the second to last step when she saw Adora come out of the room.

“I’m the lost princess, aren’t I?” The realization was so fresh in Adora’s mind that the words came out just below a whisper.

Weaver laughed. “Oh speak up, Adora. You know how I hate the mumbling it’s very-”

“I’m the lost princess, aren’t I, mother?” Adora raised her chin, attempting confidence that she most definitely did not have. As much as she was trembling, her voice had come out loud and clear. “Or should I even call you that?”

Adora had felt more than enough emotions for today. She had spent the last hour feeling nothing at all. But now…. now there was only anger.

Weaver’s face fell. She contorted it from subtle concern to something downright evil. Adora would have been scared if she wasn’t so driven by her anger. 

Weaver reached out, trying to comfort Adora. 

No, she wasn’t trying to comfort Adora. It was a gesture of pure manipulation. Weaver wanted Adora to feel crazy, to invalidate every thought she had that had led up to this realization. Adora knew this because Weaver had done it before. She had done it Adora’s entire life.

“Oh, Adora. You don’t know what you’re talking about-”

“No, I think I do.” Adora pulled away from Weaver’s extended arm, pushing the woman to the side of the staircase so she could make her way down.

“You  _ kidnapped _ me. You  _ took _ me from my  _ family _ .” Adora was grounded by the cold tile floor beneath her feet. She continued with her back to the staircase, unable to face the woman she had once called her mother. “You  _ used _ me for my hair. All this time, you  _ lied _ so you could use me. You lied about the outside world.”

“Everything I did was to protect you.” 

Bullshit. All of it. Lie after lie after lie.

Adora wanted to scream. She wanted this sorry excuse of a person to pay for what she did. Weaver had no right taking her from her family. Adora had been lied to and manipulated and used time and time again, just for Weaver’s personal benefit. It was so infuriating that Adora couldn’t breathe.

Before she could yell at Weaver anymore, Adora felt a dull pain at the back of her head and her world went black.

______________________________

  
  


Catra’s hands were on the cell bars, her voice strained from yelling.

Not a second after her realization, Catra was at the bars trying to get the attention of a guard. She had accepted her fate, but she would not accept Adora’s. She had to tell someone, anyone, about the lost princess.

Dread coiled in the pit of her stomach at the question of Adora’s safety. Catra couldn’t even bring herself to think about the worst case scenario. 

Catra hadn’t been too fond of Adora’s mother since she heard what little Adora had to say about her. It was just weird and kind of manipulative, the things that her mother let Adora believe about the outside world.

No one hides their child from the world if they don’t have anything to hide themselves.

Catra heard strong footsteps making their way to the cell. Bow came into sight, a look of pure concern and confusion on his face.

“What is going on h-”

“The lost princess!” Catra gasped. She was out of breath from the yelling, but she had to explain this to Bow while he would still listen to her. Catra watched as his eyes narrowed, his face becoming deadly serious.

“What about her?”

“I know her! I know where the lost princess is! And she’s in danger!” Catra’s voice cracked with desperation. “Please you have to help her!”

Bow looked taken aback. Catra could only pray that he believed her.

“You know where the lost princess is?” He asked, raising a brow skeptically.

“Yes! It’s that girl I was with, the one with the frying pan.” 

Bow went quiet for a few seconds that could have lasted forever, Catra wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

“And why should I believe you?” He asked. 

Catra did her best to fight off the tears. Bow seemed to be a very sympathetic person, but she had no idea whether he would think she was crying for pity or not. If she wanted Adora to be safe, she needed to keep it together. 

“I don’t think you have much of a choice. She’s in danger and I know you wouldn’t want to be responsible if you knew that and didn’t do anything about it.” Catra watched as Bow faltered, seeming to seriously consider the words. The silence as he considered his options was absolutely agonizing. 

To be fair, Bow had no reason to trust her. She was a criminal on death row, after all. But as far as Bow and Glimmer knew, she had stayed true to her promise of turning herself in once the day was over. That had to count for something. 

“Fine.” Catra felt like she was going to cry (again). She would’ve hugged Bow if they weren’t separated by the bars of the cell.

“I can take you to Angella and you can tell her what's going on. But I can’t promise anything.” Bow began to unlock the cell door, grabbing the cuffs from his belt and placing them on Catra’s wrists. 

Bow seemed to think it wasn’t much, but it meant the world to Catra. It was better than what she had expected, anyways.

As she was led down the hall, Catra took the chance to look out the windows. The window in her cell was high and small, barely enough to let in any sun.

But as Catra looked at the windows, she spotted something on one of the windowsills.

A flower.

_ Why would there be- _

The door that Bow was about to lead her through slammed shut in front of them. Bow looked at the door and then back at Catra, looking just as confused as she was.

“Hey! Open up!” He pounded on the door.

The slot on the wooden door opened, revealing a familiar pair of eyes.

“What’s the password?” The voice sang.

The voice sounded oddly familiar. It took a moment for Catra to place and when she did, it only made her all the more confused. 

  
_ Seahawk _ .

And if Seahawk was there then… 

Catra looked down the hallway to see Frosta and Perfuma racing towards her and Bow, showing no signs of stopping. It wasn’t hard to put the pieces together after that.

Catra knew they were here for her or Adora. If they somehow figured out Adora was in trouble, Catra could only hope it wasn’t too late. 

“Wait!” Catra yelled as Frosta and Perfuma grew closer, watching as Perfuma halted to a stop, almost being knocked over by Frosta in the process.

“Bow’s a friend, don’t hurt him.” Catra knew that the group was unlikely to do much damage, but she couldn’t risk it. It would probably be a good idea if she stayed on the guards’ good side.

“What kind of friend walks you to your death?” Frosta questioned, glaring at Bow.

“He was taking me to talk to someone.” Catra explained. “He knows about Adora.”

Frosta nodded slowly. “So then you’ll let her go?”

Bow’s eyes widened at the scene in front of him. He looked as if he had just been slapped across the face. He shook his head, regaining his composure before speaking.

“Well, no, I can’t exactly-” Before he could finish, Frosta was already running down the rest of the hallway. She tackled the guard, wrestling him to the floor.

  
It was quite the scene to watch one of Etheria’s finest guards get tackled to the ground by a teenager. The fact that Frosta was winning only made it more entertaining.

When Catra turned around, she saw that Perfuma was now in front of her. She gave Catra a smile before wordlessly fiddling with the handcuffs, letting them fall to the floor once they were released from Catra’s wrists.

“Thank you.” Catra said, still in awe at the fact that she was being rescued.

“Don’t mention it.”

Perfuma put her hand on Catra’s back, gently guiding her down the hallway she and Frosta had just come through.

“There’s no time for questions. This has to be quick.” Perfuma stated. Her voice was gentle and caring, but firm. “There’s already an escape plan set up. You’ll know it when you see it.”

Catra nodded. The only problem, of course, was she had _so_ _many questions._

_ How did they know she was here? _

_ Did they know about Adora? _

_ What was the escape plan? _

_ Why were they helping her? _

Before she had the chance to ask anything, Perfuma opened the door to the outside.

It took a moment for Catra to adjust to the brightness and temperature of the summer morning. She couldn’t help but notice what a stark contrast it was to the cold darkness of her cell. Perfuma motioned for her to go first, closing the door before following behind Catra.

It was too much for Catra’s brain to process. One moment she was in a cell about to face her death, and the next all of the princesses from the Snuggly Duckling were rescuing her. Not to mention that it was the flower girl leading her to her freedom. Catra promised whatever higher being was out there that if this plan worked, she would never judge anyone ever again.

Catra needed to say so much. She should ask if they knew about Adora, and how they knew Catra was here. Did something happen to Adora? Was the news of Catra’s arrest spreading around the kingdom already? Catra figured she should probably say thank you as well, since they  _ did _ just save her life and all.

But any semblance of words Catra’s brain could form died on her tongue when she recognized a familiar animal on the roof.

Standing on the walkway was Swift Wind, looking less than excited at Catra’s appearance.

Perfuma must have sensed Catra’s confusion, as she rushed to clarify the situation. 

“Swift Wind agreed to take you to Adora.” She explained. “But you don’t have much time. The guards probably already know about your escape.”

“Did Swift Wind tell you that himself?” Catra laughed. It was all she could do right now to distract herself from the growing dread.

  
  
Perfuma smiled, but was clearly not amused.

“Animals can communicate more than you think. Sometimes you just have to listen.”

Catra nodded. She didn’t understand a word Perfuma had just said, but these people were saving her life right now, so she decided not to push it. 

As they approached Swift Wind, he didn’t make a move to attack or tease Catra in any way. This was a new development.

If there was one thing Swift Wind and Catra had in common, it was their love for Adora. They both cared about her more than anything in the world and would do everything in their power to ensure her safety.

  
Swift Wind looked Catra up and down, giving her a short nod of acknowledgment. Catra couldn’t help but notice the unsaid respect that seemed to form between the two of them.

“You remember where the tower is, right?” Perfuma asked. From the little time Catra had known her, Perfuma rarely looked worried. Whatever the situation was, she had always seemed to find peace in it. But as Catra watched the woman nervously wring her hands, she could tell that wasn’t the case. 

“Yes. One question though,” Catra was surprised when Swift Wind lowered himself to allow her to mount. She positioned herself on the saddle, taking the reins in her hand. “How do we get off the roof?”

Perfuma smiled. “Swift Wind will handle that.”

Catra looked at the horse and then back at Perfuma.

“Thank you.” Catra nervously fiddled with the reins. “For everything. It means a lot and I’m sure Adora appreciates it too.”

Perfuma smiled. She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the sound of multiple pairs of heavy footsteps.

Guards were flooding out of a doorway from the other side of the roof, running over to Catra to try and catch the thief before she escaped.

“Good luck!” Perfuma shouted before she retreated back into the door she had led Catra out of just a few moments ago.

The roof was made up of two towers, each facing diagonally from each other on opposite sides of the roof. They were connected by narrow paths, with small walls on either side. The path in front of Catra stretched out and went right - the direction the guards were coming from.

“Alright Swift Wind.” Catra said. “Let’s do this.”

She pulled the reins once, Swift Wind obeying immediately. He started running, quickly gaining speed.    
  


Soon enough, the two started to approach the edge of the roof. The horse, however, showed no signs of stopping.

“Swift Wind?” Catra asked. The guards were almost about to round the corner. If Swift Wind kept up with this pace, he was going to run straight off the roof.

“Swift Wind?” Catra was growing more worried with each passing second. While she had just formed a truce with this horse, it was evident that he was still not  _ keen _ on the idea of Catra. 

They were almost to the edge of the roof. The guards had even stopped running around the corner. 

Swift Wind wasn’t stopping.

“SWIFT WIND!” 

  
The horse jumped right off of the roof.

This was it. Catra was waiting to be hanged for her crimes and now she was going to die because her horse jumped off a roof. She shut her eyes tight, waiting for the inevitable crash. They would go straight into the water below, sinking into the depths as the guards watched their failed escape attempt. 

Catra shut her eyes tight and held her breath. It was all she could do to pretend like she wasn’t flying through the air, awaiting her death by horse jumping off a roof. For a moment in time, she felt completely weightless. It would have been nice if she wasn’t about to die.

Catra opened her eyes just in time to see the roof below her. It most likely belonged to one of the businesses in the village. 

Catra blinked, as if that would help to rid herself of the shock. Nothing could have prepared her for this.

Not only had Swift Wind run off of a roof, but he stuck the landing. They hit the roof, sliding off onto the lower part of it before the horse landed on the cobblestone in the town square. Never in her life had Catra been so thankful to hit the ground.

Swift Wind raced through the village, dogging street shops and other civilians. 

Catra hated to admit it, but the horse was fast. Before she knew it, the two had already made their way to the bridge.

Catra thought about Adora. She was in more danger with each passing minute. There was no telling whether she would be okay by the time Catra and Swift Wind reached the tower. Catra had no idea what her mother was capable of, and she didn’t plan on finding out.

“Alright, Swifty.” Catra gripped the reins even tighter. “Let’s see how fast you can run.”

______________________________

When Adora awoke, her world was still spinning. The only thing tying her to the earth was the feeling of the cold chains around her wrists and ankles.   
  
She tried to scream, but any noise she managed to make was muffled by the piece of cloth tied around her mouth.

She looked around the tower, desperately trying to remember how she ended up like this.

All Adora could remember was the realization. Once she figured out who Weaver really was and what she had done, the rest did not go over well.

Adora remembered the look on the woman’s face. It was so evil and wicked that the very memory of it made Adora feel sick. She looked around to see where Weaver had gone. Her answer came in the tug of the chains from behind her.

Adora turned her neck to see an opening in the tile floor, with Weaver standing right above it. The chains went right into the dark opening. It didn’t take long for Adora to realize what Weaver was trying to do.

She was going to hide Adora. Weaver was going to lock her away forever.

  
  
Whatever glimpse of the outside world Adora had been afforded before was being taken away from her. She wouldn’t even be spared a ray of sun.

“This is for the best, my flower.” Weaver said, continuing to drag Adora towards the opening. Unluckily for her, the blonde did not stop fighting. 

  
  
Weaver had taken her from her family, taken the power of her hair, and had even taken away the one person Adora….

Nevermind any of that. It didn’t matter anymore. Because Adora wasn’t going to allow Weaver to take anything else.

She continued to fight, tugging against the chains, screaming, doing anything that would discourage Weaver. After a few minutes, it worked.

“ENOUGH!” Weaver yelled. It stopped Adora momentarily. It didn’t matter how much Weaver raised her voice, it scared Adora all the same.

Weaver looked as if she were about to say something else, or even try pulling the chains once more. Any fight the two were ready for was stopped by the sound of a voice at the bottom of the tower.

“ADORA?” 

  
  
_ Catra _ .

_ It was Catra. _

Catra had come back. She was here for Adora.

Adora tried to yell back, but the sound was muffled by the cloth Weaver had tied around her mouth to ensure her silence.

“ADORA! LET DOWN YOUR HAIR!”

No.

_ No _ .

Catra was going to come up. If she saw what Weaver had done, there was no telling what Weaver would do to Catra. 

Adora couldn’t let her in. She had to let Catra know she must stay away, she  _ had _ to. 

Because if something happened to Catra…. Adora would never be able to forgive herself. 

Adora watched the dark fabric of Weaver’s dress slide across the cold tile floor. Without Adora’s permission, Weaver took Adora’s hair and threw it out the window and down the tower.

“Such a shame, isn’t it.” Weaver pouted in fake pity. “All of this could have been avoided if you had just listened to me.”

Adora watched in horror as Weaver went over to a drawer in the kitchen and pulled out a dagger.

“Now your little  _ friend _ will pay the price.”

Adora screamed. She tugged against her chains, moving her neck from side to side as she desperately tried to remove the gag. Nothing would work. 

Catra was climbing up the tower and there was nothing Adora could do to stop her. Adora knew this was her fault. Weaver was right. If she had never left the tower, Weaver wouldn’t know about Catra. 

_ Catra would have been safe.  _

Once the tears started falling, they didn’t stop. They soaked the cloth covering Adora’s mouth and blurred her vision. 

The world was spinning once more. Adora was gasping for breath that her lungs just wouldn’t provide her with. Adora was drowning, and there was nothing she could do but stand by and watch it happen.

Her arms were too heavy to lift, her body suddenly carrying the weight of the world. 

Adora watched as Weaver positioned herself with her back to the wall by the window, awaiting for the arrival of the clueless woman making her way up the tower.

Adora felt weak and so  _ helpless _ that it hurt to breathe.

She had failed. 

She failed in protecting herself, in protecting  _ Catra _ . 

She sat there on the cold tile floor with the dreadful knowledge of what was to happen crushing her lungs. Adora had to sit there and  _ watch _ it happen because there was nothing else she could do. 

It was too late to protect Catra. 

It was too late to escape. 

_ It was too late. _

Adora watched as Catra jumped over the windowsill. 

She watched as the pure joy and relief in Catra’s expression faded into dull confusion and terror.

Adora watched as Weaver took the dagger and plunged it into Catra’s chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sobs


	9. golden

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi!!
> 
> quick cw/tw for injury/blood in this chapter. i tried to make it not too graphic but just a heads up anyways
> 
> i feel bad for enjoying writing angst as much as a i do but enjoy :))

**Earlier That Day**

“Would you mind explaining to me again just _what_ is going on?” Despite his best efforts to remain calm, Bow’s voice cracked more than once as he tried not to raise his voice. He was usually a very easy going person, but he was also just tackled to the ground _and_ lost a prisoner. Bow wasn’t doing too hot.

“Don’t you even-”

“ _Frosta_ ,” Perfuma carefully interrupted the girl who had just knocked Bow to the ground. Her tone sounded similar to one a parent would use to warn their child that they were on _very_ thin ice. Frosta listened almost immediately, so it must’ve worked. “Do you have something you’d like to say to this _very nice_ guard?”

Frost glared at Bow. If looks could kill, he would be long gone. 

“ _Ugh_ , fine.” She reached out her hand, which Bow hesitantly accepted a few moments later. “Sorry, I guess.”

Bow allowed himself to be pulled up, dusting off his uniform and adjusting his top before looking to Perfuma. Her eyes were closed as she took a deep breath before speaking again.

“We know the lost princess.”

“Apparently everyone does today.” Bow thought about the escaped prisoner. He had no idea what connections Flynn Ryder had with this group. None of these people were criminals, as far as he knew.

“When we got word that Flynn was arrested with Adora nowhere to be found,” Perfuma’s voice was so steady and sure that Bow listened carefully, almost forgetting that she wasn’t supposed to be here. “We had a small group go out looking, but we couldn’t find her.”

“And how do you know she’s the lost princess?” Bow asked. Everyone seems to just be casually brushing past the fact that they know someone who has been missing for eighteen years. Bow has heard plenty about this lost princess, but no one has explained _how_ they know it's her.

“She hasn’t been in the outside world for her entire life, she’s the same age as the princess, and they have the same birthday.” Came a voice from behind Frosta. Bow turned to see a woman with hair the same color as the sea, casually listing the clues off of her fingers. She shrugged before continuing, the same uncaring tone to her voice as if breaking into Etheria’s prison was something she did everyday. “Plus she has, like, the _same_ hair and eyes as the king.”

Bow nodded, trying to evaluate where to go from here. The guards of Etheria had no lead on the lost princess. All they knew was that she had been stolen from the castle as a baby, never to be seen again for the next eighteen years. That was it. 

Bow began to say something before he was interrupted by the sound of dozens of footsteps coming from down the hall followed by a pounding on the door and loud demands to open up. They didn’t have much time.

It was risky. Very risky, in fact, to even trust what these people were saying. They had just broken into a prison and released a wanted criminal, after all. But they had something that no one else in Etheria had; they had a lead. And that was better than nothing.

Bow looked at the women around him. He didn’t trust them yet, but he knew for a fact that they weren’t lying. 

“Follow me.” Bow could only hope that Angella would understand. It was protocol for the guards to report anything and everything they knew about the lost princess. 

Bow prayed that Angella would forgive him for not doing that.

______________________________

  
  


“Oh, Adora.” 

Weaver let the dagger fall to the floor, brushing past the woman falling to the ground with an arm wrapped around her chest. “ _Look what you’ve done._ ”

“Catra!” Adora screamed, her voice muffled by the cloth. She fought against the chains as hard as she could, silently willing them to set her free. 

Adora watched in horror as Catra curled up on the floor, cradling her chest as she cried out in pain. 

The dread coiled in her stomach spread throughout her body, burying itself deep in her bones until she couldn’t move. Never in Adora’s life had she felt so _helpless_ , like she wanted to do so much that she couldn’t bring herself to do anything at all.

A cruel voice in the back of her mind reminded Adora that this was all _her_ fault. All of the ‘ _what ifs_ ’ and ‘ _what could I have dones_ ’ became so muddled up in her brain that the silence was getting too loud. 

The only noise to bring her out of it was the scratch of chains against the tile as Weaver dragged her back towards the opening.

It felt as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest without warning. It felt empty, like a fire had ravaged the forest, leaving nothing but Adora and her grief in the ashes. The pit in her stomach was consuming her, filling her lungs and making it hard to breathe. 

The tower felt so far away, like Adora was just a spectator watching this tragedy play out from afar. Someone was crying, but the sound was so distant that Adora had no idea if the sobs were hers or not. She didn’t know anything at that moment. 

She didn’t know how to save Catra if she couldn’t even save herself. 

In the midst of the chaos, Adora found that she knew one thing for certain. It was the only thing that was constant in her mind - no, in her _heart_ \- for the past few days.

Adora loved Catra.

She loved Catra with every fibre of her being; with every last broken part and shattered edge of her heart that Adora wasn’t even sure if it was hers anymore. 

Adora knew it then, but the feeling itself wasn’t new. It had been her constant companion and greatest fear over the past days; a feeling that was so terrifying because of how _real_ it was.

Adora cared for Catra, sure. But love? Love was a tricky thing.

For so many years, Adora had been conditioned to believe that she was loved when she behaved. She was loved when she was good. She was loved when she was _used_. The ‘love’ she had known from Weaver came with terms and conditions, ones that Adora never truly subscribed to. That ‘love’ wasn’t limitless in any way, shape, or form.

But like many things with Catra, this was just _different_.

All Adora cared about anymore were the stolen stares and fleeting touches. She wanted Catra in any way that she could have her. Adora buried her feelings for so long because she just didn’t know what to do with herself if Catra didn’t feel the same. Not having Catra in that way was better than not having her at all. 

Adora had pretended it was just friendship, or as Weaver had called it, _‘trusting someone too soon because you were too desperate for a connection’._

But Adora had to believe that love was something more than just Weaver’s distorted idea of it.

Love was believing that someone was coming back, even when it was so evident that they had left you. It was being willing to sacrifice yourself for them without ever thinking about the consequences. 

Love was finding a new dream, one who Adora cared so much for that she was perfectly content with never dreaming of anything else ever again.

But it was a selfish thing to want. Weaver made Adora believe herself to be a fool for even having the audacity to think that someone could love her back. And she knew it wasn’t true, Adora _knew_ it was just manipulation.

But a small part of her still believed she couldn’t be loved, that she wasn’t _worthy_ of it. The voice in the back of her mind that bore a cruel resemblance to Weaver reminded her of how Catra was bleeding because of her failure. How could she ever love Adora after that?

But it didn’t matter whether her feelings were reciprocated or not. Adora could not fail, she wouldn’t allow herself to. She gave her all at everything she’s ever done, she can’t stop now. If Adora was going to do this, she had to be difficult. If Weaver didn’t want to listen then Adora would have to make her.

“STOP FIGHTING!” Weaver shouted, releasing the chains out of pure frustration. 

Adora crawled as far as she could, turning around so quickly that the cloth fell from her mouth and hung at her neck, giving her the opportunity she needed. 

“I will never stop fighting you!” Adora yelled, her voice cracking with desperation. She took a deep breath. She chose her next words carefully, looking Weaver straight in the eye and doing her best to keep her voice steady. “But, if you let me heal her, I’ll go with you.”

“ _Adora_ ,” Catra’s voice was strained, her face barely visible from how she was curled up on the floor. With one word Catra was pleading with Adora to not make this deal. But, in that moment, it was all she could do. It wasn’t fair that Catra was still trying to save Adora when she was bleeding because of Adora’s mistakes.

“If you just let me heal her, I won’t fight you anymore.” It was a bad deal, and Adora knew Weaver would think she was a fool for making it. Adora had just practically handed her the upper hand. But it didn’t matter, not as long as Catra’s life was still at risk. “I’ll come with you and I won’t disobey you _ever_ again.”

  
Weaver’s arms were crossed, her gaze on Adora not faltering for a moment.

“ _Just let me heal her._ ”

She eyed Adora up and down, her eyes narrowing in consideration. Adora held her breath.

“Fine.” Weaver’s tone was a firm warning. Adora didn’t have any more tricks up her sleeve. Even if she did, there was no way she could risk tricking Weaver now. She didn’t have to give any other explanation for Adora to understand the severity of the deal. There was no backing out, no turning around.

Weaver reluctantly revealed a key before reaching to unlock the chains holding Adora in place. The second they fell to the ground, and not one moment later, Adora was at Catra’s side.

Adora was so focused on being by Catra that she didn’t care how hard her knees hit the ground. She delicately placed her hand on Catra’s shoulder, rolling her on her back as slowly as she could. Adora didn’t hesitate to take Catra’s head in her lap, holding her as much as she could.

“Adora-” Catra’s voice was weak, her words cut off by her own coughing and her face growing more pale with each passing second. Adora looked at the woman resting in her lap, sitting her up a bit to help with the coughing. “You- You shouldn’t be doing this.”

Adora gave a soft laugh, feeling the tears start to well up again. She fought them back with every last bit of strength she had. She had to be strong for Catra.

“Yes, I should be.” Adora carefully brushed away Catra’s hand from her chest, revealing the once white shirt that was now a deep crimson. Adora watched as Catra’s chest unsteadily rose and fell with labored breaths. Without waiting a second more, Adora took part of her hair and began to bring it closer to the wound. She gave Catra a small smile, her next words reassurance for the woman in her lap as much as they were for herself. “It’s going to be okay.”

“Adora,” Catra’s quivering voice protested. Adora looked at her through tear-blurred vision. She had a million things to say. She wanted to say it was going to be okay, that Catra needed to save her strength and stop fighting the inevitable. And more than anything, Adora wanted to apologize. Catra’s condition was growing worse and it was all her fault.

“Yeah?” Adora’s voice was soft as she moved her head closer to Catra’s, making it so she didn’t have to waste any more breath on making her voice loud enough to hear.

The expression on Catra’s face was unreadable. Adora gave a small smile, hoping it would give the woman in her lap enough reassurance to let Adora heal her. 

With great effort, Catra shifted to grab something from her belt. She held Adora’s gaze the entire time, and it was all Adora could do to look back at her with nothing but love and hope in her eyes.

Catra delicately tucked a piece of hair behind Adora’s ear. She raised her dagger with one hand, trailing her fingers down the rest of the hair and taking it in the other.

  
Adora didn’t know what was happening. And by the time she did, it was too late.

Catra’s dagger made contact with her hair, slicing it off in one clean motion. 

Adora felt a soft thud as Catra fell back into her lap, the sound of the blade hitting the floor barely registering in her mind.

“Catra?” Adora’s voice was breathless, distant, as if she was hearing it from somewhere far away.

Adora lifted her arms slowly, reaching for hair that was long gone. Her fingers brushed the choppy ends of newly brown hair as she searched Catra’s face for any emotion, any explanation as to _why_.

Adora found nothing but life fading from the eyes of the woman below. Catra’s skin was getting colder, the color having almost completely drained from her face. There wasn’t much time. Adora had to face the truth.

She was losing Catra.

“NO!” The one word Weaver screamed in response was filled with so much dread that it made Adora’s blood run cold. She watched as the woman she had once called her mother began to waste away right in front of her eyes.

Weaver stood on the opposite side of the room, rushing to bundle up the golden hair as if holding it in her hands was enough to preserve the magic.

The hair in Weaver’s arms was turning brown, going dull as it lost its powers. Weaver cried out again as her own hair went grey and her skin became more wrinkled.

Adora watched in disbelief as the woman seemed to age seventy years in just a few seconds.

Weaver dropped the bunch of brown hair, rushing over to the mirror by the window. Her expression worsened as she poked and pulled at the wrinkled skin, willing the image of the aged person in the mirror to disappear.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” She screamed in horror, looking over to where Catra struggled with consciousness too much to give an answer. 

Nothing could’ve prepared Adora for the following events.

Weaver pulled the hood of her cloak over her head, successfully hiding almost the entirety of her face. Blind by the fabric, the old woman stumbled away from the mirror and dangerously close to the window.

“Mother!” Adora screamed before she could think better of it. This woman was not her mother, she knew that. But in her desperation, Adora reached out to the only mother she had ever known. 

Weaver _raised_ Adora. She read Adora her first books, watched her take her first steps. Weaver was there for every tantrum and question Adora asked about the outside world, even if she almost always ignored them. Weaver taught Adora everything she knew and, for the longest time, she was everything Adora _had_. 

And if Catra was gone…. she was all Adora had _left_.

It went quick, but time slowed down just for Adora. Her fear seemed to freeze time as she watched Weaver trip and fall over the windowsill and right down the tower. 

Adora reached out, but there was nothing she could do now. Weaver was gone, her existence reduced to nothing more than a pile of dust at the bottom of the tower.

There was an ache buried deep in Adora’s chest. She knew she shouldn’t miss Weaver. People as terrible as her didn’t deserve to be missed. But part of her did, and she feared it always would.

Grief was a dull pain, constant in the back of Adora’s mind but never so present that Adora could fully grasp the reality of the situation. She knew Weaver was gone. She _knew_ Weaver was never coming back. 

But Adora still expected her. Part of her was still waiting for the consequences, ones that she knew would never come. 

A cough from the woman below her was enough to immediately bring Adora back.

Catra’s eyes were hooded and Adora knew just by looking at her that it was with great effort that her eyes were even still slightly open.

What once was brilliant blue and amber was now dull and lifeless, fading right in Adora’s arms and there was nothing she could do about it. She wasn’t magic anymore. 

Adora cursed Catra; she cursed herself. There were so many things she could have done, and even the things she couldn’t, she still blamed herself for not being able to do. Catra was wasting away, becoming a ghost right in front of Adora’s eyes. And it was all because she saved Adora.

Catra was frail and weak and fading and _she saved Adora_.

“Why?” Adora’s voice was wavering, her eyes overflowing with unshed tears. It was a simple word, but so heavy with desperation and fear that it came out just above a whisper.

Catra wordlessly raised a hand to Adora’s cheek, gently stroking her thumb in the smallest circles she could manage. Adora leaned into the touch, bringing her own hands to hold Catra’s in place.

“You were my new dream.” Catra whispered, the faintest hint of a smile spreading across her lips. 

The words took Adora’s breath away. She didn’t even have to think about her next words. She already knew, she had for a long time.

“And you were mine,” Adora was a mess of tears and watery words but she needed to say this before it was too late. “You always will be, Catra.”

“Promise?” Catra’s smile was fading, her hand beginning to slip from Adora’s cheek.

“ _I promise_.” And then Adora couldn’t hold on anymore. She had to let go.

With one last breath, Catra was gone. Adora let her hand fall from her cheek, watching as Catra’s eyes closed for the last time.

Adora brought Catra closer, holding her as tight as she could as if it would be enough to bring her back. Her sobs were muffled as she buried her head in Catra’s shoulder, praying for the return of someone already gone. 

If Adora still had her hair, she could have healed Catra. What was an eternity chained in darkness if the woman she loved was safe? It didn’t seem like much to Adora. All she wanted, all she _ever_ wanted, was for Catra to be safe, even if it meant that Adora herself wasn’t.

And maybe it was delusion or false hope, but Adora had to try. 

“ _Bring back what once was mine._ ” Her voice broke after the single line of the song she was able to manage. It was too much. 

She gently stroked the back of Catra’s head, twirling the soft curls around her fingers and whispering a thousand words that all meant the same thing, ‘ _I’m so sorry_ ’.

Adora was so lost in her own grief that she barely even noticed the faint glow coming from Catra’s chest. Convinced it was her mind playing tricks on her, Adora pulled away just enough to see what was happening.

The brilliant glow was warm enough to dry the tear stains that ran down her cheeks. Adora watched in complete awe as the light reached even the darkest corners of the room, illuminating everything it touched.

Maybe it was the shock, or the belief that she didn’t deserve a happy ending, but Adora didn’t know what to think as she watched the light retract to the place of the initial wound.

Adora slowly moved Catra’s shirt, carefully checking the fabric covering her chest. Her eyes searched for an injury beneath the crisp, white fabric, but she was met with no trace of a wound at all.

  
Catra still lay limp in her arms, still cold and gone. But her injury was healed.

There was no hint of the deep crimson color or copper scent anywhere. Adora moved the undershirt and delicately traced the brown skin underneath to find that there was not even the ghost of a scar. 

Surely there was no way Adora could have done this. Not now, at least, with her newly cut hair. Healing cuts and bruises caused by long afternoons of recklessly playing in the tower was second nature to her. It was the same process over and over, using her hair and singing the song. But Adora’s short, brown hair was a far cry from the seventy feet of gold magic it used to be. 

Healing people? Fine. Keeping Weaver young? Okay.

_Bringing someone back from the dead?_ Adora didn’t know if that was possible, even with magic. 

Catra still hadn’t moved. Adora began to lose hope, slipping back into the pit of grief she thought she had just crawled out of. The dread that ached deep in her bones came back in full force, familiar fears starting to flood her mind until-

“Adora?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> everyone reading this chapter is just that one scene from spongebob where everyones like "THATS WHAT WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!!" but anyways
> 
> see ya next week <3


	10. the end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> writer's block is a bitch
> 
> i wrote this in one night
> 
> is it 4 am? yes. do i regret it? no

For a split second, Adora thought she had imagined it. She thought herself to be delusional with grief and unable to grasp the fact that Catra was gone. Because wouldn’t it be convenient to have the woman she loved come back to life right in her arms? It was the kind of stuff dreams were made of. It would have been perfect luck, the luck Adora had spent when she met Catra. 

Catra was her once in a lifetime. Adora didn’t need the universe to give her more luck.

But as the woman in her arms said her name and Adora watched as Catra’s eyes fluttered open, she knew it wasn’t a dream.

Was it too good to be true? Probably. But Adora had to learn to  _ want _ . It wasn’t selfish to want to be loved. Adora wasn’t foolish to think that she could be loved. Adora was kind and loving and smart and most importantly, she was free. 

“Catra?” Adora said the word like she thought she would never be able to say it again. A few moments ago, that might have been true. 

Catra was, without a doubt, completely healed. Adora knew that no magic was perfect and she would probably need more rest, but Catra was alive, and nothing else mattered but that.

The beginnings of a sentence began to leave Catra’s mouth before she was abruptly cut off when Adora almost tackled her to the ground in a hug. She wrapped her arms around Catra as tight as she could while still allowing her to breathe.

Catra didn’t hesitate to hold Adora, returning the hug with all of the newly restored strength she had. 

They stayed like that for what felt like years. Adora wanted to stay like this for years. There was nothing she wanted more than Catra, and there was no better feeling than having her again. Adora held her as if Catra would slip through her fingers the second she let go. Part of Adora was scared that she would. 

But when they finally pulled away with the biggest smiles on their faces, the loss of contact left an ache deep in Adora’s bones. She didn’t want to overwhelm Catra. Coming back to life was no small thing and she probably needed a second to adjust. 

Adora basked in the warmth filling her chest as Catra looked at her, gold and blue eyes glowing with brilliant, beautiful life. 

The tower around them was a mess,  _ they _ were a mess. It was overwhelming and unreal, but Catra was there and it was perfect.

Catra’s eyes dropped their gaze to Adora’s lips and without wasting another second, Adora closed the distance between them. She got hold of Catra’s collar, taking the fabric in her hands and using it to pull them closer. 

They would have to break apart at some point, Adora knew it was inevitable. That didn’t make it any less easier, though. 

They needed to breathe but at this moment, Catra was like air. She was all Adora needed, breathing didn’t even matter to her anymore. Catra was there and Adora was whole again. 

Adora had lived eighteen years without Catra. In those eighteen years, she had longed for a life outside of the walls of the tower, but she had never felt incomplete. 

Adora never realized that there was something missing until Catra. Once she came into Adora’s life, Adora couldn’t imagine living without Catra ever again. A life without Catra was no life at all.

When they finally broke apart, Adora knew what came next. The words had scared her not too long ago. Now, Adora had never felt more confident in saying them.

Maybe it was knowing that she was loved in return, or that Adora was holding Catra in a way she once thought she would never get to again, but she was practically glowing with bliss. Adora felt weightless, so overwhelmed with joy that the world seemed so distant, as if there was nothing else but Catra.

Adora smiled softly, brushing a piece of Catra’s hair behind her ear. She let her hand rest on Catra’s cheek and then-

“I love you.” 

Adora wouldn’t have noticed that she was crying if Catra hadn’t wiped the tears from her face, her hands even softer than Adora remembered. She noticed Catra’s eyes becoming as red rimmed as her own. 

Their tears were made of nothing but happiness. Adora couldn’t remember the last time that happened.

Through tear-blurred vision, Adora watched Catra smile. It was a sight Adora never thought she would see again, which only made the tears fall even more.

“I love you too.”

______________________________

  
  


The news came in the early afternoon.

Bow had spent the morning trying to find common ground between Angella and the group that had broken into the prison and released one of the most highly wanted criminals. 

Angella had been furious at first. Bow had to recruit the help of Glimmer so that she would just hear them out.

Neither Angella and Glimmer had been too happy by the end of it, but they were able to come to an agreement. 

While Flynn found and brought back Adora, guards would be positioned around the perimeters of the kingdom to watch for their return. 

No punishment for the group was set in stone until the lost princess was returned. 

Right after the decision had been made and the orders were about to be sent out, the news came.

Bow didn’t even need to ask what the guard had to say, the look on his face was enough. As it turns out, the guard had been on patrol by the bridge and spotted Flynn, with the lost princess by her side. 

Bow didn’t even need to look at Glimmer to know what she was thinking.

With a short nod from a speechless Angella, the two left the war room and practically sprinted down the hall.

They decided to split up. Bow would go to find Flynn and Adora while Glimmer alerted the king and queen about the return of their daughter.

Glimmer was breathless by the time she reached the king and queen. The queen stood immediately, the king following soon after. They looked at Glimmer with pure confusion, the faintest hint of hope behind their eyes.

As talkative as she usually was, Glimmer found that the words just wouldn’t come. She watched the king reach for the medallion around his neck, one in the shape of a sun. 

Glimmer knew the unspoken question behind the gesture. It was common knowledge that the king and queen didn’t like talking about their daughter. It wasn’t that they didn’t love her, but with each passing year, the loss became more and more permanent. The more they hoped, the more they hurt. It was common knowledge among the guard to not bring up such a sensitive topic around them.

But now, Glimmer could. Their lost princess was here, waiting on a balcony just outside of a palace tower. 

All Glimmer had to do was say it. But the words held so much weight, so much sadness and grief and loss that made them all the more difficult to say.

After a moment, Glimmer nodded. It was subtle at first, as if she were just accepting the news herself. But after a few seconds, she grew more sure. Glimmer was nodding furiously, watching as the queen brought a hand to her mouth in shock, the king’s expression mirroring the one of his queen’s beside him.

Glimmer led them up the stairs and down the hall, stopping at a door where the lost princess was waiting just on the other side.

______________________________

  
  


Adora held Catra’s hand in her own, focusing on their intertwined fingers as she desperately willed her nerves to disappear.

It was an unspoken agreement between the two that Catra would come with Adora. Not only was she too nervous to go alone, but Adora didn’t think she could handle being separated from Catra ever again.

As they stood on the balcony waiting for the king and queen, Catra told Adora all of the stories she could remember. She talked of her first failed mission and how she had come to meet Adora in the first place.

The conversation was nice, and it was all Adora could do to distract herself with the rasp of Catra’s voice and the sound of her nervous laughter. 

As Adora distantly followed along to one of the tales, she thought about Weaver. How could she not? After all, she was the only parental figure Adora had ever known. And now that Adora was on the cusp of meeting her  _ actual _ parents, it was all she could think about. 

A million whispers echoed in Adora’s mind, voices only fueling her anxiety.

_ What if they’re mean? _

_ What if they don’t like me? _

And then, the worst of them all.

_ What if they’re like Weaver? _

That thought worried Adora the most. She knew it wasn’t true. On the way to the kingdom, Catra had told her everything she knew of the king and queen. They seemed like absolutely lovely people. They would have to be pretty nice to be beloved in the eyes of an entire kingdom, after all.

Adora was brought back to the balcony by the feeling of Catra’s hand releasing her own. Before she even had the chance to miss the contact, Catra was placing her hands on Adora’s shoulders.

“Hey,” Catra’s voice was soft. If she was nervous, she didn’t let it show. Adora looked into the eyes of blue and gold, feeling her breathing steady at just the sight of them staring back at her. “It’s going to be okay.”

Adora smiled as Catra’s words filled her with the reassurance that she so desperately needed. Before she could begin thinking of her response, the doors across the balcony opened.

Catra released her hold on Adora and stepped back, just out of the way but close enough that Adora would know she was right there. 

Before the doors had even completely opened, the queen stepped out, the king right behind her.

Adora felt all the breath leave her lungs. After eighteen years, she was meeting her parents. No tricks, no lies. Just her mother and father.

_ Her mother and father. _

Adora hesitantly took a few steps towards the queen.

She was beautiful. Her hair was pulled back in a braid, the same shade of brown that Adora’s now was. Her eyes were a few shades darker than the blue dress she was wearing. There were hardly any wrinkles on her warm brown skin, the only sign of age showing in her eyes and the few grey hairs that were woven seamlessly into the braid as if they had always been there.

_ Mara _ . Adora remembered Catra telling her the name of the queen as they made their way through the whispering woods.

The woman stepped closer, now just a foot away from Adora. Her eyes were brimming with tears, searching Adora’s face with a question she already knew the answer to.

Mara was undoubtedly Adora’s mother. It showed even more now that Adora’s hair was the same color as her mother’s. While their eyes weren’t the same shade, they had the same exact look of hope and love in them. 

Mara had only looked at Adora for a few seconds, but her gaze was filled with more love than Weaver had shown her in a lifetime. 

Hesitantly, Mara reached out her hand to touch Adora’s cheek.

It had been years since Adora had any contact with her mother, but the feeling of the soft hand on her cheek felt so familiar that Adora couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face.

She was home.

  
After all these years, Adora had found her family.

Mara’s grin reached her eyes and she was pulling Adora into a hug, pouring eighteen years worth of love into it. Adora didn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around her mother, the two of them crying from joy at a reunion they had never thought possible. 

Adora didn’t know how long they stayed in each other’s arms but when they did part, she could see the king waiting right behind Mara.

He stood tall and strong, his eyes the same grey color as Adora’s and his blonde hair the same color hers had once been. 

The king should have been intimidating, really. But when Adora’s eyes fell to him, he broke down immediately. 

Feeling the tears start up again, Adora opened her arms to her father. Just like with her mother, they both cried into the embrace. Years worth of stolen moments felt like nothing compared to this. Adora would relive those lonely eighteen years over and over if it meant that she would find her parents again. 

Eventually, Mara joined the embrace and the three of them sunk to the floor, holding each other like only a family reuniting after eighteen years apart could do. 

The king pulled away to look at the woman still by the railing of the balcony.

Catra felt out of place watching the reunion. She wanted to be there for Adora, yes. But Catra knew nothing of family. She felt like a burden to this intimate moment, one she had no place in. 

So when the king reached out his hand, Catra stepped closer and accepted it, expecting a handshake at best.

What she did not expect, however, was to be pulled right into the embrace.

The king and queen held her as if she were their own and for the second time that day, Catra felt like truly belonged.

______________________________

  
  


The celebrations began almost immediately. The entire kingdom rejoiced in the return of the lost princess.

After reuniting Adora with her family, Catra’s crimes were officially pardoned by the crown. 

Sea Hawk, Mermista, Perfuma, Frosta, and everyone else that had helped her escape to save Adora were off the hook as well.

This only left one problem unsolved.

Catra stood off to the side of one of the dance circles currently happening in front of the castle. She had promised Adora a dance later and as much as she hated dancing, Catra had to admit that she was looking forward to it.

As she watched the twirling dresses and feet hitting the pavement to the beat of the song that was being played by a band a few feet away, Catra heard a familiar voice.

“Wildcat?” She turned to see Scorpia with Entrapta right by her side.

There was a white hot flash of anger but before Catra had the chance to act on it, Scorpia was wrapping her in a hug.

“Oh my god! We were so worried about you!” Scorpia sounded relieved, despite being the one to set Catra up in the first place. “She told us you would be safe but when we heard you were arrested… I’m just so glad you’re okay!”

_ What? _

“What?” Scorpia pulled away to look at Catra. Her eyes were filled with nothing but genuine concern and as confused as she was, Catra knew she wasn’t lying.

“Weaver had incited our help to find Adora.” Entrapta began to explain. “She said that as long as we did as she asked, you would remain unharmed.”

Catra looked between the two women.

“So then why did you turn me in?”

“We didn’t mean to!” Scorpia rushed to explain. “Weaver said she knew people in the kingdom, people that would make sure they got the crown from you. She called them her ‘shadow spies’ or something.” Scorpia thought about it for a moment. “She said that they would be able to return the crown, which would get the guard off your back for a while.”

Scorpia was the first friend Catra had made after she left the orphanage. They had grown close over the years and they knew each other’s tells like the back of their hands. 

Catra could tell that Scorpia wasn’t lying. Considering Weaver’s history with Adora, Catra didn’t doubt that she had manipulated Scorpia and Entrapta in some way.

“Weaver said that our work with her wasn’t over until she said so.” Entrapta said. “But after we had done as she said with you, she told us to meet her by the dock for further instructions. She wasn’t there, though.”

“I’m so sorry, Wildcat.” Scorpia said. It was obvious that she felt absolutely terrible about the whole thing. 

Catra would accept the apology, but she couldn’t stand there and act like she was completely innocent either.

“I’m sorry too.” Scorpia looked confused at Catra’s apology, but let her continue. “I didn’t want the guards following you, so I made sure they knew that  _ I _ was the one with the crown. And then I didn’t meet you in Thaymore because I got chased by a horse and climbed a tower and got held hostage by you-know-who.”

Scorpia looked over to where Adora was currently trying to get people to join in on the dance. She looked back at Catra with the biggest grin on her face and that was all the warning Catra got before she was suffocated in another hug.

“I’m so happy for you, Wildcat.” Scorpia almost sounded as if she was crying. And as Catra embraced her oldest friend, one she knew now that hadn’t betrayed her, she felt the tears start as well. 

“I am too.”

______________________________

  
  


And so the story goes.

Not long after the celebrations started, Catra and Adora moved into the castle together.

Catra stopped going by Flynn and quit thieving all together.

Although Catra knew it saved her life, she still felt bad about cutting Adora’s hair. It was obvious she missed it.

And so, Catra cut her hair short, saying it was to match Adora’s.

_ “Your mother cried because of that.” _

_ “I did not!” _

_ (She did.) _

A few weeks later, by the magical properties of some rocks that Catra still didn’t understand, Adora’s hair had completely grown back.

Catra eventually apologized to Bow and Glimmer. Over the next few years, Adora, Catra, Bow, and Glimmer became close friends (the ‘best friend squad’, as Bow had dubbed them).

Adora and Catra served as maid of honor and best man at Bow and Glimmer’s wedding. 

______________________________

“And I know what you’re thinking. ‘Did Adora and I ever get married?’”

There was a giggle from the floor below her.

“Well, after years and years of asking and asking and  _ asking _ ,” Catra grinned. “I finally said yes.”

“Catra!”

“Okay, okay! I asked her.” Catra rolled her eyes, laughing at her wife’s interruption. 

“And we lived happily ever after.”

“The end.” She finished, looking at Finn to see their disappointment at the story ending. 

“Does this mean I have to go to bed now?”

Adora laughed.

“Yes. It’s already  _ way _ past your bedtime.” She shot an accusatory glance at Catra, watching her put her hands up in defense.

“It’s not my fault that we live  _ very _ exciting lives.” Catra responded, getting up from her chair to attempt getting Finn ready for bed. She was met with whining protests and pleads for five more minutes.

Adora watched in amusement as Catra bribed Finn with a piggy back ride. As it turns out, getting ready for bed is a  _ very _ exciting task when a piggy back ride is on the table.

Adora didn’t know what to expect when Finn had asked how she and Catra met. Out of all the books Adora had read, her and Catra’s story was her favorite. But there was absolutely no way to tell what Catra was going to do when she sat down in her favorite chair with the most mischievous grin on her face.

The next two hours were… something. It was already late when Catra started telling the tale. Adora suspected that Finn would be asleep in minutes, making bedtime all the more easier for her and Catra.

But to her surprise, Finn paid attention to the entire thing. They laughed as Catra told the tale of how she was chased by Swift Wind and the wanted posters that put her cat ears to shame. They listened intently during the more intense parts of the story, ones Catra knew to sugar coat so they were appropriate for her younger audience. 

As much as she replayed certain moments in her head, it was so different to hear Catra tell their story after so many years. 

Adora liked it even better now that they could tell it to Finn.

Lost in thought as she must’ve been, it took a second for Adora to realize that Catra was calling her name. 

She looked up to see her wife standing by the door, Finn on her back and their head peeking out just over Catra’s shoulder.

“You coming?” Catra asked, holding her hand out to Adora.

Adora stood up from her chair, smiling at the sight of her wife and their child and the thought of how one dream had turned into two. She couldn’t help but think about how far they had come. It felt like forever ago that Adora couldn’t even imagine the lanterns being for her. 

Now, she got to continue the tradition for Finn. 

Adora walked over to Catra, taking her hand and feeling the butterflies flutter around in her stomach as if she were eighteen again. 

Years ago, Adora thought happily ever after only existed in fairytales. 

Now, she knew that wasn’t true.

“Always.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, catra was telling this story to finn the whole time
> 
> yes, im crying
> 
> thanks again to everyone who supported this brainrot of a fic, its greatly appreciated
> 
> goodbye for now :)

**Author's Note:**

> HERE WE GOOO
> 
> next chapter catra and adora meet.... and i may or may not be writing that right now
> 
> (also i know i said updates at least once a week but the next one will probably be tomorrow)


End file.
